Titanium
by Alexandra the Dreamer
Summary: Elizabeth Morgan knows she is different, but after an accident, Charles Xavier finds her and offers her a place with his team of young mutants. She accepts but in the process of learning, a grave rift opens, forming the X-Men and the Brotherhood. Havok/OC
1. Running

**Well, my friend recommended I watch X-Men First Class, so I bought it for myself and fell in love with it! So, I decided to write a Havok/OC fiction. I hope you like it!**

* * *

><p>Elizabeth ran as fast as she could away from the alley.<p>

Everything that had happened seemed to have taken less than a second.

The nineteen-year-old girl was walking home from visiting one of her friends, when a man darted out of an alley and dragged her into it, clamping his hand on her mouth before she had a chance to scream. Once inside the alley, he shoved Liz against a wall before and began trying to pull at her jeans, keeping one hand on her mouth. Liz managed to fight against him hard enough to push him away. However, just as she was about to run away, the man pulled out a gun and trained it on her head.

"What are you going to do now, girlie?" he asked her, the putrid odour of liquor fresh on his breath and his slurring gave away the fact that he was drunk. "Nowhere left to go."

"Please, just let me go," Liz pleaded, trying to keep the fear from seeping into her voice. "I haven't done anything to you."

The man let out a bitter laugh; there was no way he was letting this pretty girl go; he would have her one way or another, even if it did end up becoming necrophilia. The girl tried to run, so he lunged at her and grabbed her wrist, before throwing back against the wall, her head cracking against the brick. Annoyed with the girl, he decided in his drunkenness, that she would be much more cooperative dead.

Liz knew what was coming before it did, so she was ready for it. The crack of the gun sounded out in the alley, but once the bullet encountered her skin, it seemed to rebound harmlessly. The drunk's eyes widened as the bullet hit the floor with an almost inaudible clink, and he stared with fear at the girl before him, noticing not only that her silver eyes were glowing, but that her skin and hair had changed to a silver colour with a diamond-like texture – the form of the precious metal titanium.

"You messed with the wrong 'girlie'," Liz mocked, before looking down at the bullet, so it rose into the air, then turning to face the man and shooting into his chest.

That was when Liz ran.

She had done it again – it had been ten years since the accident happened, when she was younger and misunderstood her mutation, but now, her mutation had now become so strong, she had killed someone else.

And for some reason, she had never felt more _alive_.

Her bronze hair flew out behind her as she ran down the street, her flat boots hitting the concrete with every step, trying to hurry up and get to her apartment.

Liz wasn't even from America – she was just staying there on a holiday, and she was going back home to England in a few weeks, but she guessed that she'd just spend the rest of the holiday, and her life, in a jail cell.

* * *

><p>After ten minutes of flat out sprinting, she finally reached the block of flats she lived in, and darted into the warmth of the reception. A large, open expanse of cream marble, with a set of black leather sofas in one corner, a golden marble desk and the odd painting hung up around the walls. Overall, the reception showed off the expense of the hotel well.<p>

She shut the doors behind her and breathed a sigh of relief, before straightening out and walking across the floor to the lifts.

"Evening Miss Elizabeth," the thirty-something year old man with the thick black hair greeted her from behind the reception desk.

"Evening," Liz nodded, trying to get to her room as quickly as possible, in case the police found the body and traced her to the hotel.

Once in the elevator, she began formulating a plan in her head; she would get to her room, pack her things and leave. Once outside, she would go to the nearest cash machine and take out enough money to survive for a couple of weeks, and then take her bike and travel away under a false name, and start her life again.

After an excruciating journey – with the ear-ripping music – the elevator finally came to a stop on the eighth floor. Liz jogged down the hallway as quietly as she could, until she reached room 427, where she pulled out the hotel key, unlocked the door and slipped inside, unknowing of what lay ahead the next day.

* * *

><p><em>Knock knock<em>.

Liz jerked upright, her bronze curls crushed to the side of her head she had been sleeping on. She rubbed her cheek and frowned as she realised the desk she had been resting her head on had several magazines set atop it – which had caused slight indents to form on her cheeks.

_Knock knock_.

Her silver eyes flashed to the door as she heard the knocking. For a moment, fear took over her body, thinking it was the police. However, she soon realised that was not the case; if it was the police, they would be yelling at her to open the door, and these people weren't.

_Knock KNOCK_.

But these people _were_ getting impatient.

After knocking over a pot of pens and a couple of books onto the floor in her haste to get up, Liz darted to the door.

Hesitating behind it, she peered into the spy hole and saw two men, one with dark brown hair wearing a suit, the other with lighter brown hair wearing a leather jacket and jeans, stood in the hallway, waiting outside her door.

Straightening her back, Liz unlocked the door and opened it, peering into the hall to look at the men.

"May I help you?" she asked them politely.

"Yes, Elizabeth Morgan?" the shorted man asked.

Liz stayed silent, but her guilty glance downwards gave the answer away.

"Excellent, my name is Charles Xavier, and this is my friend, Erik Lensherr, may we come in?"

"Sure," Liz opened the door and allowed the two men to walk into her hotel room, before closing it and turning to them with a confused expression, wondering why she let them in. "Excuse me, I hate to ask, but why are you here?"

"Well, I can tell you this over a nice cup of tea, if that's alright," Charles smiled.

Liz made to move to the kitchen area, when Erik stopped her with a wave.

"Just tell her Charles, we can't afford to waste time drinking tea," he muttered coldly.

"Very well then, Elizabeth –"

"Liz, please, just Liz though, not Lizzie or Elizabeth."

"Liz, Erik and I have come to you for one very simple reason; we are like you."

"What?" Liz nearly choked on the air, which is a _very_ hard thing to do.

"I believe you heard him correctly," Erik drawled, lounging on the grey sofa.

_You have no need to worry, Liz – Erik and I only wish to give you a safe and secure asylum with others who will accept you_.

Liz jerked at the feeling of someone gently sorting through her mind, and speaking to her in her mind. She looked at Charles and saw he was holding one hand to his temple and looking at her intently.

"You can read minds?" she asked him.

"I'm a telepath," he confirmed for her.

"And what about you?" Liz turned her gaze on Erik, who appeared to be flicking through some of her magazines, despite the fact that they were aimed at women, which was probably the reason why Erik looked as if he wanted to kill himself.

Instead of answering her verbally, he glanced up at her, as everything made of metal in the room, including Liz's necklace, began floating into the air, before dropping back down.

"You can…"

"Manipulate and generate electromagnetic fields," Charles inputted.

"But," Liz shook her head slightly. "This doesn't tell me why you're here – or even if I can trust you!"

"Please," he held out his hand to her.

"How can I trust you?" she reiterated, trying to stop her fright from showing.

"By coming with us; at the base we have six other young people there, just like you, who had no one to turn to, and nowhere to go, and they have formed a family, one that _will_ accept you without any hesitation," Charles explained, keeping his hand out. "Please."

Swallowing her fear and disbelief, Liz took a step forwards and placed her hand in Charles'.

"Excellent," he grinned, closing his hand around her slender fingers. "Erik, grab her bag and we'll go; I expect they'll be waiting for us when we get back."

With a sigh, Erik got to his feet, grabbed the suitcase from beneath the table and followed the other two out of the door.

* * *

><p>Once in the elevator, Liz spoke up.<p>

"Can you give me a couple of minutes; I'll need to cancel my room?" she asked the two men.

"Of course," Charles answered, quickly cutting off Erik's complaint before her could insult Liz.

The rest of the journey was silent, except, of course, for the annoying lift music. The lift doors opened, showing the vast expense of marble that was the reception area, so the trio stepped out. As they drew closer to the desk, the two other men who were stood at the desk happened to turn around, showing their police uniforms.

Liz's eyes widened as her footing stuttered, but Charles just placed one hand on her back and made her carry on walking towards the desk.

"Excuse me," one of the police officers spoke. "Were any of you out around the Bourne Square at around eleven 'o' clock last night?"

"No, sorry, my friend, cousin and I were in the pub at North Street, a mile away, may I ask why, gentlemen?" Charles answered smoothly.

"We found a body in the alley," the more rotund officer answered. "And several eye witnesses say a young woman, of about nineteen or twenty, with bronze hair and wearing jeans, boots, a tank top and a leather jacket, was running away from the alley where the body was found. We managed to trace the girl's path to here."

Both officers' eyes were boring into Liz's head, but she remained fixated on the painting above the reception desk – she knew they had found the killer, and they knew it too.

_Liz, cancel your reservation; Erik and I will sort this out for you._

Charles' voice entered Liz's mind, before he lifted his left hand to his temple and looked at the officers.

"Now then, gentlemen…"

Liz stepped around the officers and leaned over the reception desk, fabricating some lie about why she was cancelling her booking, and why it needed to be done urgently.

Fortunately, the old woman on the desk didn't suspect anything and complied with Liz's wishes and, thankfully, everything was sorted out in under a minute.

Liz turned around and saw the police officers had left, and Erik and Charles were waiting just a few feet behind her.

"Right then, if we're all done, let's go," Charles smiled.

Liz grabbed her bag from the floor and followed the two men outside, and to the black Jaguar XF that was parked outside the hotel.

"Wow."

"I know – she's my favourite," Charles grinned at her.

"But, I've got my bike," Liz stopped on the pavement. "And I'm not leaving her here."

Erik sighed and turned to look back at the young woman, who stood with her arms crossed and a determined expression on her face.

"Liz, please…"

"Charles, we don't have time to deal with this."

"But I'm not leaving my Ducati!"

At the word, Erik's expression changed to one of curiosity.

"Ducati?"

"Yeah, Ducati 848 – she cost a lot, she's worth a lot and she's coming with us," Liz said stonily.

"I think I can come up with some way of transporting your bike for you," Erik said, looking at the bike in relation with amazement.

"When you said transporting my bike, I didn't think you meant fold it into a single block of metal!" Liz screeched from the back.

"Relax, it'll be fine – I'll sort it out when we get to the base," Erik replied from the front.

"Huh," Liz crossed her arms and sank back into her seat in a huff, leaning her head against the window.

"Honestly, the two of you are behaving like children," Charles grinned, watching the road ahead of him.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Liz muttered.

"Division X, a CIA base lent to us, that's where the other mutants are and that's where you'll be staying," Charles replied.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Charles smiled at her through the rear-view mirror, but saw she was looking out of the window.

Erik looked at him, signalling that he wanted to talk privately, so Charles entered his mind.

_Do you know her mutation yet?_

_No, Erik; I have a feeling that it shares similar properties to yours, but I'm not going to make my mind up or force her until she is r__eady._

* * *

><p><strong>I know it seemed a bit awkward, but it should get better as it goes along. Thanks for reading!<strong>


	2. Division X

**Well, it seems that people enjoyed the opening chapter of Titanium, so here's the second for you all!**

* * *

><p>"Wake up sunshine; we've arrived," Erik's loud voice broke through the thick unconsciousness in Liz's brain, forcing her to wake up.<p>

Her silver eyes flickered open and looked up at Erik with an accusatory look in them. Erik skilfully ignored her flare and gestured for her to look out of the car window. The accusatory look left her eyes as she sat up and stared at the building with wonder in her eyes.

"Welcome to Division X," Charles smiled at her from the front seat, before climbing out of the car.

Liz slowly opened the door and stepped out of the car into the cool evening air, staring at the large concrete walls, with a large glass window at the entrance. There were several other windows around the tops of the walls, which were at different layers and heights. Around the front were concrete knee-high walls surrounding green bushes and thin trees.

"This is where you're based?" Liz asked Charles.

Charles, who had been talking quietly to Erik, looked over at her and smiled at her awed expression, before walking over to her and placing his arm around her shoulders. "Where _we're_ based; you're one of us now."

"And what exactly is 'one of us'?" Liz asked him curiously.

"Government agents, who don't really work for the government," Erik informed her.

"Thanks," Liz said quietly, keeping her eyes on the large building in front of her.

"Come on then, let's go inside before it gets too dark," Erik said, ushering the two up the large pathway.

The entrance room inside the building seemed to be even larger than on the outside – there was a small staircase leading up to a huge circular podium in the middle, which had two other staircases leading up onto a balcony that span around the top walls of the room.

"This way."

Following one of the side corridors, Charles led Liz and Erik to a set of steel double doors, where he opened them to reveal the room inside. The room had a small bar area to the left of the door, a dining table with chairs in front of that and a pinball machine in the far corner. To the right of the door were two sofas and a couple of chairs set around a small coffee table.

Sat on the chairs and sofas were six young people – four boys and two girls, who were all chatting animatedly to one another. However, as soon as Charles, Erik and Liz walked in, they quietened down and turned to look at the three.

"Charles," a blonde haired woman stood up and quickly crossed the room to hug Charles happily.

"See Raven, I told you I wouldn't be that long," Charles grinned at her, before turning to look at the others. "Guys, I want to introduce you two Liz – our newest recruit."

Upon hearing the words recruit, the young man with the red hair stood up with a hoot and punched his fist in the air.

"Yes and a hot one!"

"Sean!"

His name echoed about the room, and Liz appeared to be the only one who didn't scold him, since she didn't know his name.

"Make her feel welcome; Erik and I have got a meeting with Moira," Charles instructed them, and then patted Liz on her back. "See you later, and thank you."

"Oh, by the way sunshine," Erik caused Liz to turn and look at him. "Your bike is in the garage – she's fine and back to normal."

"Good, otherwise you'd be dead," Liz threatened him sweetly.

Erik just held up his hands in mock surrender, whilst Charles watched them with a small grin on his face, and Raven with a confused expression.

When Charles and Erik left the room, Liz curled her arms against her chest in awkwardness, feeling the room's gaze on her.

"So, you're Liz, I'm Raven," Raven held her hand out with a bright smile.

"Liz, but you knew that," Liz answered with a grin, clasping Raven's hand firmly in her own.

"Would you like a drink?"

"Sure," Liz put her hands in her jean pockets.

Raven darted over to the bar and grabbed a bottle off the top, before handing it to Liz.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to the others," Raven, like Charles, placed her arm around her shoulders and began leading her towards the sofas.

Raven sat down on the inside of the nearest sofa, beside a handsome dark-haired boy, and gestured for Liz to sit down beside her.

"Liz, this is Hank, Darwin, Angel, Sean and Alex – the other mutants here. And guys, this is Liz, as you know already," Raven smiled, pointing around the room at the other teenagers.

Hank seemed to be quite nervous, wearing glasses, a jumper and shirt, making him the most formally dressed in the room. Darwin was a dark-skinned lanky young man, with wide eyes and broad shoulders. Angel, sat beside Darwin, had smooth black hair, blemish-free coffee coloured skin and wore a pretty dress and boots. Sean had a mop of red hair and sat in one of the chairs, with Alex, a blonde haired handsome young man, beside him in the other.

"It's nice to meet you," Hank, who was sat on the other side of Raven, reached across the blonde to shake Liz's hand.

"It's nice to meet you too," Liz smiled back at him, grasping his hand in her own.

She was glad that someone had decided to break the ice; however, the atmosphere in the room still seemed to be quite awkward.

"Really Hank, first Raven and now Liz," Sean teased Hank, who seemed to shrink into his shoulders slightly out of embarrassment. "Already trying it out with the new girl!"

"Come on, Sean, leave him alone," Darwin scolded, although his grin showed there was no seriousness underlying his voice.

"Anyway, I was thinking that we should think of code names," Raven said. "We're government agents now; we should have secret code names. I want to be called Mystique."

"Damn, I wanted to be called Mystique," Sean said sarcastically, looking at Raven from over the rim of his glass of coke.

"Well tough, I called it," Raven said as the others laughed, before a blue layer seemed to float over her body, and she transformed into a perfect copy of Sean.

"Whoa," Darwin muttered, as the room took in her mutant, and Liz and Hank jumped back slightly at the change.

"And I am way more mysterious than you," Raven, who was still in the form of Sean, said, staring at the real Sean, who looked quite scared.

Liz and Angel laughed as they all clapped at Raven's power.

"Darwin, what about you?" Raven looked over at the

"Well, ah, Darwin's already a nickname, you know, so it fits," he explained.

"What do you do?" Liz asked, leaning forwards. "Darwin wrote about evolution and natural selection, so surely you must relate to that in some way."

"Look at you, little brainiac," Darwin grinned. "And British."

"He's British, I'm British, so I know a lot about him, anyway, back to the subject, what do you do?" Liz pressed, smiling at the easy interaction – the tension in the room had vanished, and she was glad for it.

"I adapt to survive, check this out," Darwin said, getting to his feet.

All eyes were on him as he strode towards the fish tank, before bending over and putting his head in the water. In front of their eyes, gills formed on the side of his neck, allowing him to breath underwater immediately.

"Cool"

Applause was heard as Darwin pulled his head out of the tank and shook the water off of it.

"Thank you," he said, moving back to sit down. "Now then, Liz, what do you want to be called, eh?"

"Titanium," she announced after a moment of thinking.

"Why do you want to be named after a metal?" Angel asked her.

"You'll see."

Liz smiled and, after taking a swallow from her bottle of coke, stood up, walking around the sofa and standing beside the dining table. She turned and looked back at the others, with a smile on her face, before feeling the smooth ripple as her skin and hair changed into its titanium form.

"Wow!"

Noises of appreciation were heard from the others as they clapped and cheered.

"That's not all," Liz added, turning around and walking a couple of steps towards one of the walls.

"Wait," Hank stood up as she pulled her arms back. "That wall's three feet of concrete, with steel layers inside, if you punch it – your wrists will shatter."

"I'll be fine, don't worry; I'm not punching it," Liz said with a smirk, before throwing her arms forwards and letting a silver barrier fly out of her body and straight through the wall, smashing it as it went.

Angel, Raven, Darwin, Sean, Hank and Alex all looked away as the wall smashed, stopping bits of debris from hitting their heads by covering their faces. When they heard Liz's laughter, they looked up. Liz, still in her titanium form, was clutching her sides and leaning against the wall, which had a huge hole punched through it.

"Well I never…" Hank trailed off, as the group stood up in silence and walked over to the wall and simultaneously peered at the hole, only to see it went right through the wall and left a gaping hole. The two agents in the room on the other side stared in shock at the hole, their eyes wide with shock.

A moment of silence passed as Liz stopped laughing and the mutants stared from the hole to the titanium figure.

"Whoo!"

"Yeah!"

"That was amazing!"

Liz, with a happy smile, changed back into her human form as the others cheered at her.

"What was that?" Sean asked her, after patting her on the back.

"I can change my body to become –"

"Titanium," Hank finished for her. "The strongest metal known to mankind."

"Yes," Liz smiled kindly at him. "And with it, comes my barrier."

"Then that's what we'll call you," Raven grinned. "Titanium."

"I like it," Liz slapped Raven's high five with a large grin on her face.

"Suits you," Alex murmured to Liz as they walked back to their seats. "You know, shiny, beautiful, one of a kind."

"Thank you," Liz said, a blush dusting across the tops of her cheeks, wondering why he was flirting with her.

"You flirt," Raven whispered in Liz's ear. "Don't think I didn't see that."

"Shush," Liz elbowed Raven in the ribs to get her to shut up.

"Come on," Raven clapped as they all sat down. "Sean, you're next!"

"I'm going to be, Banshee."

"Why are you going to be named after a wailing spirit?" Hank questioned, sitting up a bit straighter.

"You might want to cover your ears," Sean warned, standing up and crouching at the end of the table.

With a bit of hesitation, the young adults sat in the room all covered their ears, with the exception of Sean. He grinned at them all, before emitting a high pitch shriek, which smashed the large window opposite him, causing the others to laugh nervously.

"Your turn," Sean, with a smug smile on his face, pointed at Angel.

"Well, my, er, _stage_ name is Angel," she stood up, pulling off her jacket.

Sean seemed to appreciate that.

"And it kind of fits," Angel turned around, showing her tattoos, which were of wings.

The tattoos shocked everyone by peeling off her torso and becoming real wings.

"You can fly?" Raven gasped.

"That is amazing!" Liz grinned, curling her legs up under her body on the sofa.

"Uh-huh," Angel smiled at them from over her shoulder. "And…" she leant back and then spat at the statue outside. A ball of flames flew out of her mouth and landed on top of the statues head, making it look like a bird had just pooed on top of it, causing the mutants to start laughing again.

"What's your name?" Angel asked Hank, pulling her jacket back on.

Hank looked away unhappily, seemingly upset with the fact that the subject had turned to him.

"How about 'Big Foot'?" Alex suggested, joking but with a harsh tone underneath, one which Liz didn't notice.

Liz, Angel and Darwin giggled at the name, and Alex smirked, taking a swig from his bottle, catching Liz's eye.

Liz found the mutant quite nice, even handsome to an extent, but her giggles subsided as she saw Hank looking away unhappily, and she finally realised that there was a malicious tone underlying his comment, so her smile slipped from her lips.

"Well, you know what they say about men with big feet," Raven said, glaring at Alex. "And, er, yours are kind of small."

"Okay now," Darwin tried to calm things down as Sean started laughing.

Liz looked at the bottle in her hands, biting her lip as Alex looked down sourly beside her.

"Alex," she said softly, looking at the blonde haired man beside her. "What's your power?"

He looked at her, seeing nothing but sincerity in her silver eyes, but broke eye contact by looking down.

"Ah, it's not, um, I'm…I just can't do it," he said, not looking at anyone. "Can't do it in here?"

"Can you do it out there?" Darwin asked kindly.

"Why don't you just do it out there?" Raven asked when Alex began to shake his head.

"Come on, you can do it," Sean added.

"Alex," Angel said, which then caused her, Raven, Darwin and Sean to join in, chanting Alex's name over and over again.

Liz kept quiet because she felt slightly sorry for Alex, even if he _did_ insult Hank. However, she did cheer when he placed his bottle on the table and began to walk to the broken window, showing that he was going to display his power.

"Get down when I tell you," he ordered, stepping over the glass and disappearing to the right of the window.

Liz, Angel, Raven, Hank, Sean and Darwin all got to their feet and peered around the edge of the window to watch Alex, all excited.

"Get back," Alex said when he saw them all watching.

They all leant back, but moments later were watching him again.

"Get back," he instructed with more force, however, none of them moved. "Whatever."

He began to swing his torso, along with his hips, as three red discs appeared around his body, turning at different angles. When he threw his chest forwards and his arms back, the rings flew off his body and destroyed several parts of the garden outside. One hit a tree, a second vanished over the roof and the third sliced the statue cleanly in half, sending the top half across the lawn and leaving the edges it touched burning.

"Whoa!"

"Wow."

"Yeah!" Liz cheered, throwing her arm in the air.

As the other applauded him with amazement in their eyes, Alex walked back to them, smiling and happier than he was before.

"Party!" Angel shouted, causing the other teens to cheer with her, and that was when the music turned on and the party began.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed it!<strong>


	3. Introducing Shaw

**I've really enjoyed writing this story, so I've decided to update a bit earlier than I planned on. However, exams are coming up, so it may take me a while to write and publish chapters, but I will do it!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>"Come on, try it!" Sean hooted, egging the young copper-haired mutant on.<p>

With a laugh, Liz changed into her titanium form, and launched herself at the wall. She crashed through it, landing unharmed on the other side, with the others cheering and laughing, the music blaring loudly.

She hopped up and leaped cleanly through the hole in the wall, being greeted by a slap on the back from Sean. She had gone through the wall several times, and it was still something funny for the others to watch, and for Liz to perform.

Hank was hanging upside off the light, using his feet, which Liz had found very interesting and asked him how long he could hang upside down for. That was an hour ago, and he was still hanging strong. Angel was flying about with her wings, wiggling her hips in time to the music and drinking from a glass in her hand, whilst Alex and Sean were throwing chairs and hitting Darwin with different solid objects, trying to see if they could break through his rock skin, and they were failing miserably. The coffee table was lying on its side underneath the dining table, the sofa Raven wasn't dancing on was at an angle, with the cushions lying about on the floor, and there were several chairs lying around, all with broken legs due to the impact when they hit Darwin's skin.

Raven grabbed Liz's wrists and pulled her up onto the sofa she was dancing on, where the two girls began jumping and swaying in time to the loud music. Angel joined in from where she was floating, and the girls began laughing raucously.

Liz had found a good friendship with Angel and Raven despite the short time they had known each other – which was probably to do with the fact that they were the only girls in the group and they were also outnumbered by boys.

"What are you doing?" a sharp, loud voice cut across the air.

Liz spun around and, after Raven tugged on her arm, stepped off the sofa and onto the floor. Charles, Erik and a woman with straight brown hair were stood on the other side of the broken window, all of them staring in at the carnage with disgrace. The others quickly stopped what they were doing, and within a few seconds, the only sounds that could be heard were from the music, which was still playing, but quieter, as Hank turned it down quickly.

"Who destroyed the statue?" the woman demanded, looking around the room. Her eyes widened with shock as she saw the multiple holes in the right wall. "And who did that to the wall?"

"It was Alex, and Liz destroyed the wall," Sean ratted quickly, causing the two culprits to send him a withering glare.

Angel bit her lip as she let out a giggle, and Raven turned to look at the others.

"No, it's Havok and Titanium, we have to call them Havok and Titanium; they're their names now," she said, before walking towards the adults. "And we were thinking, you should be Professor X," she pointed to Charles, who stood with his hands in his pockets and a disappointed frown on his face. "And you should be Magneto." She gestured to Erik, a proud grin on her face.

Erik, however, looked less than thrilled with the name he had been given and the state of rowdiness they had found the teenagers in. "Exceptional," he murmured in a bland tone, before walking off.

Liz walked up to Raven and placed her hand on her arm, seeing Raven's face drop. The woman just looked at the teens in disgust and followed Erik off, whilst Charles paused for a moment.

"I expect more from you," he said, tears seeming to be hiding in his eyes, and then he too walked off, after the woman and Erik out of the courtyard, leaving the teens to stand in silence.

* * *

><p>Nearly 7 hours later, when the moon was at its fullest and largest, hanging high in the night sky, the mutants sat in the same room. However, the window had been replaced and it had taken two hours for a group of ten workers to fix up the four holes Liz had made in the walls, all ten of them muttering about mutants throughout their work. Alex had very nearly punched one of them, so when he drew his arm back to punch the worker in question, Liz had stood in front of him in her titanium form, causing him, to his horror, to punch her. It caused no harm to Liz, but meant that Alex's knuckles went red and sore, and gave the workers a fright.<p>

At the current time, Alex was on the pinball machine in the back corner, with Darwin watching him and his ever increasing score. Liz was perched on the arm of one of the sofas, with Raven and Angel sat beside her on the sofa itself, and Hank and Sean sat on the sofa opposite. The coffee table that had previously been knocked on its side now was back on its feet, with a couple of glasses of coke sat atop it.

"Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town," Liz looked up at the sound of a slightly muffled voice, and saw there were two C.I.A agents stood on the opposite side of the glass, staring in at the teens. "Hey come on honey, give us a little, er," the agent, talking directly to Angel, began to do a very poor impersonation of her wings, thinking he was funny. "No?" Angel just glared at him, shaking her head slightly. "Let's see the foot, come on, there it is Bigfoot, let's go." Hank, sending a stony look at the agents, got to his feet and began walking towards the window, reaching for the switch to bring the curtains across. "Hey come on, hey." The agent complained as the curtains split the mutants from the agents.

"Thank you," Liz smiled at Hank, who gave her a small smile in return.

"They were just guys being stupid," Raven said, aiming the statement more at Angel than anyone else in the room.

"Guys being stupid I can handle," Angel snapped, placing her cup down on the table with more force than necessary. "Okay, I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off, than the way these ones stare at me."

"At us," Raven added after a moment of silence, nodding her head sadly.

Liz looked down at the mug of tea that was clutched in between her hands, wondering if coming to the base had been her best decision. She would have found a way to escape the police, and if she hadn't, she would have spent her time in jail, probably enjoying the solitary confinement – it would mean that she would be out of danger to the public. However, she was pulled out of her thoughts when a metallic thud abounded from outside. Liz glanced up and saw Raven and Hank were looking around as well, obviously having heard the noise too.

Liz began to think nothing of it, when she heard another thud, this time, it was louder.

"What was that?" Darwin asked, just as another, even louder, thud sounded, before he seemed to answer his own question. "I don't know; something doesn't feel right."

Liz, along with Raven, Hank, Sean and Angel, got to her feet as Darwin strode away from the pinball machine and towards the window, where the mutants stood around. Alex, who had been on the pinball machine, turned around and walked to the window, just as Darwin opened the curtains, allowing the mutants to look into the courtyard outside.

Suddenly, Liz, peering out of the window, saw two objects that seemed to be flying in front of the moon.

"Look there," she pointed, making all the mutants look up.

"What is that?" Darwin muttered, to himself more than anything.

One of the two objects disappeared, leaving the fatter one to fall quickly to the ground. As it hit the ground, Liz screamed and jumped backwards, bumping into a strong body, whose arms wrapped around her as she covered her mouth, trying not to cry or be sick; on the floor in front of the window was the body of a CIA agent. A _dead_ CIA agent.

As the floodlights and searchlights turned on, and the sound of a klaxon began blaring, more and more bodies of CIA agents began hitting the roof or the floor, after being dropped from a great height. One smashed through the glass roof of the veranda in the courtyard, making the mutants get more distressed.

Liz pressed herself firmly into the body behind her, feeling utterly sick and scared.

Quickly, the courtyard filled with more agents, this time, they were alive and holding machine guns.

One began hitting the glass window to attract the attention of the mutants. "Get back! Get back! Don't you leave that room!" he ordered them.

Suddenly, a red man appeared out of thin air and stood in the middle of the courtyard, causing the teens to scream and point at it so the agents could see it.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

Liz screamed again at the sound of the shooting so she and the others tried to use the sofas and chairs as protection. As they were crouched behind the sofa, Liz realised that it was Alex she was clinging onto, but she didn't care at that time; she was just too scared.

However, as they began shooting, the figure disappeared, only to reappear beside an agent. He grabbed the agent's gun and turned it on the window, so the glass shattered and sent shards at the mutants.

The sound of roaring wind directed their attention to the other window, where they saw a large tornado ripping through the ground and engulfing the large ball-shaped building at the end of the site.

With a shriek, Liz fell back as the red mutant appeared closer to the window and stabbed two of the agents with his short swords.

"Stay here my ass!" Darwin yelled, trying to keep the others safe. "Let's go!"

Alex helped pull Liz to her feet and, keeping their hands clasped together, they began running across the room, after Darwin, towards the door to try to escape. They ran down the corridor, only to find it blocked by agents at the other end, who seemed shocked to see them out of the room.

"Get back!"

"Go!"

They blocked the way and stopped the mutants from running past them, in an attempt to keep them safe. Suddenly, a large explosion occurred at the end of the corridor, sending a wave of heat that engulfed them, scaring them all. The men began firing at a figure in the flames, yelling at the teens to go back to the room, which they did very quickly.

However, once back in the room, they saw the tornado was even closer and was throwing pieces of scrap metal about outside the window. In the courtyard, the men were losing badly to the red mutant, and he even got one of the agents to accidentally shoot his friend.

The girls screamed and they all cowered back as an agent was thrown at the window by the tornado, smashing it and landing heavily on the floor, motionless.

Liz clutched closer to Alex as the last agent was killed, and the two evil mutants crossed the windows to get into the room. Both wore suits, but they were both just as deadly, Liz guessed, holding the lapels of Alex's leather jacket as he held his arms around her back and waist.

More gun shots sounded outside the room, making Raven let out a whimper in terror.

"Wait, wait, you want the mutants? They're right through that door," an agent outside the door pleaded. "Just let us normal people go, we're –" The man didn't finish his sentence, because another gunshot sounded, and the man was cut off.

The door opened and a slim man wearing a sharp suit and a helmet walked into the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Where's the telepath?" he demanded.

"Not here," the red mutant answered him.

"Too bad, well, at least I can take this silly thing off," the man removed the helmet he was wearing. "Good evening, my name is Sebastian Shaw. And I am not here to hurt you."

"Freeze!" a lone agent ran out onto the courtyard with a gun pointing at Shaw.

"Azazel."

The red mutant, seemingly called Azazel, vanished, and then reappeared behind the agent, killing him with one stab.

"My friends," Shaw stepped forwards, handing his helmet to Riptide, the mutant who created the tornado. "There is a revolution coming, when mankind discovers who were, what we can _do_. Each of us will face a choice: be enslaved or rise up to rule." He looked each of the teens in their eyes, and Liz had to force herself not to flinch when he looked at her. "Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us then by definition you are against us. So, you can stay, and fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me, and live like kings, and queens." His voice lowered on the last word as he looked at Angel, holding out his hand.

Slowly, after a moment's hesitation, Angel reached forwards and took Shaw's outstretched hand, following him to the window, where Azazel stood waiting in the courtyard.

"Angel," Raven murmured.

"Are you kidding me?" Sean was appalled.

"Come on, we don't belong here, and that's nothing to be ashamed of," Angel said, keeping her head high and the tears at bay.

"Angel, you don't need to…" Liz trailed off, taking a step towards the girl.

"We do, Liz, the humans need to learn to accept us."

Liz's breath stuttered in her throat as she stepped back, feeling Alex's hand grasp her own in comfort.

Darwin cocked his head to the side and held out his hand to Angel, but she ignored it and walked off with Shaw, Riptide following them.

"We have to do something," Raven muttered darkly, staring after Angel.

Darwin turned around and, after pushing Liz into Raven, began talking lowly to Alex. He grabbed Alex's arm and began pulling him towards the window, but Alex shoved him in his chest.

"Stop," Darwin turned around and stepped over the window. "I'm coming with you."

"Good choice," Shaw walked to meet Darwin half way. "Now, tell me about your mutation."

As they were talking, the others inside the room walked across so they were standing in a line opposite the line where Shaw was, all the while glaring at him.

"Well I adapt to survive," Darwin told Shaw. "So I guess I'm coming with you."

"I like that," Shaw nodded, before gesturing to stand beside Angel.

However, there was a shock in store for all of the mutants.

As Darwin took Angel's hand, he yelled out a name. "Alex!"

"Liz, cover them!" Alex ordered, moving forwards.

Liz changed into her titanium form and threw a shield out so it covered Raven, Hank and Sean, who stood behind her, clutching one another.

"Do it now!" Darwin shouted, changing his body to stone and turning so he protected Angel.

Alex spun his body so the rings appeared once more, and threw them at Azazel, Shaw and Riptide. However, as the third hit Shaw, he seemed to catch it in his hands, before absorbing it slowly into his skin.

"Protecting your fellow mutants," Shaw grinned, as Azazel grabbed Angel off Darwin and pointed a sword at him. "That's a noble gesture. It was good."

Liz, sensing that something bad was going to happen, let her shield drop, spun around and used another barrier to throw Raven, Hank and Sean into the corridor, closing the door behind them to keep them safe. When Shaw took a step to Alex, she darted in front of Alex and threw a shield up in front of them, holding his wrists tightly in her own.

"You're a powerful mutant, aren't you?" Shaw cocked his head, looking at Liz. "More than just one power, but due to the same mutation."

"What?" Liz's eyes widened in confusion; what was he talking about?

"Get away from her!" Darwin moved forwards and tried to punch Shaw, but he caught the punch, stopping Darwin from hitting him.

"Adapt to this," Shaw muttered, before grabbing Darwin's jaw and forcing one of Alex's condensed rings down his throat.

He let go and walked away, grabbing Angel's and Azazel's hands, just as Azazel made them all vanish, leaving Darwin in the courtyard.

Liz dropped her shield and pressed her hands to her mouth as she watched a good friend slowly die.

Darwin desperately tried to adapt his body to survive, but whenever he changed, Alex's power destroyed that adaption. Darwin looked at Alex, who was horrified at what his power was doing to his friend.

Raven, Sean and Hank burst through the doors, just in time to see Darwin become nothing but dust, which fell to the floor, and Alex and Liz, who were staring forwards with tears in their eyes.

Darwin was dead.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

**P.S**

**If any of you are interested, I've begun writing a Loki/OC story (from Thor), just to let you know.**

**X**


	4. Settling In

**Thank you so much for all of the reviews I've been getting; you people seem to really like this story! Anyway, here's another chapter for you to enjoy! Sorry about the length, but it's all I felt it needed.**

* * *

><p>Liz sat on the stone bench, watching the agents rush around as they tried to salvage whatever they could from the ruined building. She sniffed, rubbed her nose and rubbed her arms to try to keep warm, the air still cold from the early hours of the morning. One of the agents running about must have noticed her shivering, as a thick blanket was thrust at her within a matter of seconds. Before she could thank him, the agent had run off again, leaving her alone on the bench.<p>

She tugged the blanket around her shoulders and looked at her boot-clad feet, wondering why everything had happened so quickly, and why it had all happened since she had arrived at the C.I.A base.

Looking up, Liz watched the three other young mutants, who sat around the small square on different benches, watching the agents run about as she had. The mutant who caught her attention was Alex, or Havok as Raven had named him so. He was sat on the bench perpendicular to her, with his arms on his knees, hands clasped together and his head down. For a moment, Liz wondered what he was thinking of, but then she nearly slapped herself for thinking that question – he was probably thinking about Darwin, and how Shaw had killed him and taken Angel away, all in the space of a few minutes.

She inhaled deeply, before climbing to her feet and walking over to where Alex sat, slowly, as the cold had caused some slight numbness in her toes. She sat down beside him, quite heavily on the bench, and looked at him.

"Hey."

Alex gave no acknowledgement that she was there, other than a slight tip of his head, which was probably just to see who had sat beside him.

Liz crossed her legs and began jiggling her ankle, trying to get some blood flow back into the foot so she could walk properly once more.

"How are you?" she tried to start a conversation with Alex, leaning forwards slightly.

"How am I?" Alex looked up at her with such malice in his eyes, Liz nearly slid off the bench in shock. "I just killed Darwin…and you're asking me, if I'm _alright_." He let out a low laugh, mocking the bronze-haired girl beside him.

Liz sat in silence for a moment, fuming at the way Alex had spoken to her; as if she were inferior to him.

"I was just asking, and if you're going to talk like that, then there's no point in me even speaking to you," and with that, Liz stood up, with a flourish, and stalked off to perch herself on one of the mushroom-like concrete shapes beside the benches.

Raven, Sean and Hank looked back and forth between the two young mutants, but decided to remain silent and not intrude on their spat; it could only get worse if they interfered.

* * *

><p>Hours passed, but it felt like seconds to Liz; she sat in the same spot until the sun was high in the air, and the only sign that she had been still for hours was the fact that her back was stiff and cracked when she straightened up slightly.<p>

A car pulling over made her look up and she saw Charles and Erik climbing out of a beaten up black Ford 300.

"Raven," Charles called, looking once at the taxi, which was crushed under blocks of concrete, ran over to the blonde female, hugging her tightly.

Liz stood up and moved to stand beside Hank, who was sat on the bench with Sean and Alex.

"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home," Charles informed the mutants, with a slightly solemn look in his eyes.

"We're not going home," Sean argued.

"What?"

"He's not going back to prison."

"He killed Darwin," Alex snapped, trying to get Charles to see.

"All the more reason for you to leave."

"And what about me?" Liz stepped forwards, letting go of the blanket and throwing it onto the bench. "You know I have nowhere to go – I'm a wanted _criminal_!"

"Liz, we can sort it out," Charles sighed. "This is over."

"Darwin's dead, Charles," Raven said bluntly. "And we can't even bury him."

"We can avenge him," Erik said, after a long moment of silence.

Liz looked up, slightly startled as she had forgotten he was there, and was even more shocked to see Moira was stood beside him.

"Erik, a word please," Charles demanded softly, walking away.

The mutants and Moira watched Charles and Erik converse softly, all of them wondering what they were talking about and why Charles wanted it to be kept secret from them.

Charles turned back to look at them all in the eye, seeming to be decided something.

"We'll have to train," he spoke, looking fierce. "All of us. Yes?"

"Yeah," Alex spoke up first, followed by Liz.

"Of course."

"But, we can't stay here," Hank pointed out. "Even if they re-open the department, it's not safe. We've got nowhere to go."

"Yes, we do." Charles answered after a moment.

* * *

><p>After an annoying three hours cramped in the back of an army jeep, the destination finally arrived. One by one, the teens jumped out of the back and onto the gravel drive, which suggested quite a large house.<p>

Liz hopped out last and walked to stand with the group, all of them staring at the large manor Charles had driven them to.

"This is yours?" Sean asked, disbelieving his eyes.

"No," Charles turned to him with a smile. "It's ours."

"Where are we?" Liz asked, looking around.

"Westchester, New York – where I spent my childhood."

The manor was huge, more like a castle, in Liz's eyes. It had three floors and a four floor tower at one corner, with huge windows covering every floor, as well as decoration atop the roof and small towers. The grounds were vast, at least five miles in each direction, with a house to match the size of the gardens.

"Honestly Charles, I don't know how you survived," Erik noted sarcastically. "Living in such hardship."

"Well, it was a hardship, softened by me," Raven replied, walking forwards and wrapping her arms around Charles, who kissed her temple. "Come on; time for the tour."

* * *

><p>After an incredible tour – the house was full of antiques and artefacts, and Raven and Charles were more than happy to answer any questions Hank and Liz asked; both found old houses interesting – Liz was lying in her bed.<p>

She smiled as she thought about what had happened on the tour – giggling at the part where Sean had to physically carry a kicking Liz away from a large painting of Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh. Liz found it amazing, to see the work of her favourite artist before her eyes, especially in the house where she was staying.

The room she had been given took Liz's breath away at the sheer size and beauty of the features inside. The bed, a huge soft mattress with a thick duvet, and multiple blankets and pillows sat atop a thick mahogany base, with four wooden posts and purple curtains hanging around the top and falling down the back and sides, where they were tied to the top posts.

The carpet was a thick cream one, which meant Liz could pace around barefooted if she wanted to, and the colour matched not only the walls, but the padding on the chair, which sat before a wooden desk.

The desk itself had green felt attached to the top, and papers and pens to spare, along with many other objects in the drawers.

There was a large wardrobe in the corner of the room, beside a bookcase the same size, which had books spilling out of the shelves. In the wardrobe, Liz had seen there were many different dresses, tops, trousers and shoes, as well as accessories in the many drawers.

The door was made of the same wood as the desk and bed posts, and had a golden doorknob, one which was so shiny; you could see your reflection in it. But, there was a floor length mirror in the en suite, so there was no need to check your reflection in the doorknob.

Liz turned onto her side and buried her face into the feather pillow, feeling the unconsciousness begin to take over her body slowly.

* * *

><p>The soft sunlight seeping into the room caused Liz to stir, streaming in through the gap in the curtains. With a smile on her face, she awoke fully and stretched, feeling her joints agree it, before sinking back onto the pillows, having, without a doubt, the best night's sleep ever.<p>

As she turned onto her side, she saw a piece of paper had been pushed under her door, and was now lying on the carpet.

Pushing the covers off her body, she got to her feet and padded over to the door, before bending down and picking up the paper. Once it was in her hands, she realised it wasn't actually paper, but a thick sheet of parchment, with words written on it in black ink.

It read;

_Feel free to come down to the kitchen to choose your own breakfast, and feel free to also have a wander of the house and the grounds. Today, we relax, but tomorrow, training will start._

_Charles._

Liz smiled at the note, before glancing at the clock on the wall. It was only half past eight in the morning, but she felt fully relaxed and decided to head down for breakfast. Instead of scrounging around the wardrobe for hours to find a new outfit, she just slipped on her jeans, tank top and jacket from the day before. The only change being the blue converse she chose from her bag, instead of her boots. After running a brush through her hair, she pulled the locks into a hair bobble, and left her fringe hanging over her right eye.

Closing the door behind her, Liz began to make the five minute trek down to the kitchen, pausing at every painting she found on her journey.

At nine 'o' clock, Liz finally walked into the kitchen, where she saw Hank sat at the table, chatting to Charles, who was stood in front of the cooker.

"Ah, good morning Liz, I hope you were able to find the kitchen alright?" Charles smiled, turning around from the cooker.

"Yes, I just took a bit longer due to the paintings," Liz admitted, slightly bashfully.

"There's no harm in that – you and Hank are the first up, so," with a grunt, Charles grabbed the large cooking pot and moved it onto a cork mat on the table top, "you both get first pick of breakfast."

Hank and Liz stood up to peer inside the pot, where there was a pile of slightly yellow toast inside it.

"We have French toast, normal toast, butter, honey, jam, chocolate spread, cereal, juice, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, porridge and fruit," as Charles was talking, he was whizzing around the room, throwing cupboards open, shoving bowls, plates and cutlery on the table and pulling out different jars and boxes, leaving Liz and Hank slightly overwhelmed.

"Um, I think I'll just have some of the French toast," Liz said slowly, reaching into the pot and pulling out a couple of slices to put on a plate.

Hank chose some cereal, drowned in milk, and sat down beside Liz at the table, who was digging into her food.

"I'll see you two later," Charles spoke up, after he had finished his tea. "I've got the meeting in a few minutes. Have fun."

After Charles left, the only sounds to be heard in the kitchen were the sounds of a spoon scraping a pale china bowl, and toast being crunched.

"Liz, do you want to have a look around the house today? I mean-if you're not doing anything-"

"Of course Hank," Liz cut off a nervous Hank, before he began to babble, with a smile. "I'd love to."

A look of relief spread across his face at Liz's answer, and he visibly relaxed.

"Thanks, it's just that you're the only other person in the house who is interested in the history of it," he admitted.

As soon as the two finished their meals, they shoved the plate and bowl in the bowl of hot water and, after Liz grabbed a handful of grapes, left the room together.

The two walked down the many corridors of the large house, chatting animatedly as they went.

"Here, catch," Liz stopped walking, so Hank turned to look at her, before she threw a grape at him.

Leaning forwards slightly, Hank caught the grape perfectly in his mouth, causing Liz, with a grin on her face, to cheer and clap at him.

"How do you do that?" she asked him, walking to stand beside him.

"Do what?" he asked, after chewing the grape quite quickly.

"Catch it? I've tried for years, and I've never been able to do it," Liz grumbled.

"Well here," Hank took a grape from Liz's hand and walked backwards, so he was a few feet away from her. "Catch this one."

Even though Hank threw it very slowly and carefully at Liz, she leaned forwards too far, causing the grape to hit her tooth and fly into the air.

"Told you!" Liz exclaimed, as Hank burst into laughter. "What's so funny?"

"You couldn't even catch it from there," Hank choked out between laughter.

"Oh really, well catch this!" Liz threw another grape at Hank, which hit his shoulder and bounced off.

Liz, laughing so much, stumbled over her feet and dropped the rest of the grapes, causing them to bounce over the floor. One unlucky grape managed to find itself under Hank's shoe, as he stepped forwards, crushing it with a wet _squelch_.

Both mutants stopped laughing at the sound, and looked at the mess that was slowly seeping into the expensive carpeting of the hallway. They looked at one another, then back at the grape, and then at one another again, before bursting into hysterical laughter.

However, their fun was shortened considerably, by the sound of voices coming up the large staircase beside the teens. Hank peered over the edge of the staircase to see who was coming up.

Liz, in silence, watched his face as the pallor of his skin paled considerably, as he looked up at her with slight panic in his eyes.

"It's Erik, Charles and Moira," he hissed at Liz, whose eyes widened in fear.

"Come on," she hissed back at him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him into a run, down the corridor, away from the staircase.

They rounded the corner of the corridor, where they bumped into two other people. Hank managed to grab Liz under her arms and stop her from falling, after both of them stumbled.

"Cheers Hank," Liz mumbled as she stood back up, looking up to see who they had bumped into.

Raven, Alex and Sean were stood before them, looking quite confused as to why the two were running.

"What…?"

Before Raven could finish her sentence, there were several _squelches_ from down the hall, followed by several people speaking at once.

"Charles…?"

"It's those damn kids."

"I guess I'll have to make a few house rules then."

"What did you do?" Raven asked Liz.

"Well, we might have spilled a couple of grapes."

"_MUTANTS_!"

"Okay, make it _a lot_ of grapes then."

"And Erik, Charles and Moira have probably found them," Hank added.

"I'm going to _kill_ them; these are my new shoes!"

Following Erik's threat came the sound of footsteps, heading with increasing speed to the corridor the mutants were stood in.

The five young mutants exchanged worried looks with one another, before running away from the corridor as fast as they could, leaving the footsteps far behind them.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the little comedy in it; I've reached the part in the film where almost anything can happen, so I'm having fun writing up these next load of chapters!<strong>

**X**


	5. Telling The Past

**Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it!**

* * *

><p>"So, what were you and Hank doing?" Raven asked Liz, her voice raised over the sound of the two showers spraying water.<p>

"We were supposed to be looking around at all of the paintings in the house, but we just ended up talking about anything that came to mind," Liz admitted, covering her hair in shampoo.

"And then you dropped all the grapes?"

"Well, after I tried catching some in my mouth – did you know," Liz stuck her head out of her shower curtain to look at Raven, who copied her. "Hank can catch grapes in his mouth from over five metres away, when I can't even do it from a few feet away!"

Raven giggled at the silver-eyed girl, which then caused said girl to begin giggling as well.

They both went back into their cubicles and carried on with their showers.

"Hey, Raven, could I borrow that nice smelling body wash you have?"

"Which one? I've got orange, mango, lemon, apple, musk…"

"Um…could I borrow the musk? I think that's the one I like."

"Sure, catch."

Raven's words were accompanied by a bottle being thrown over the tiled wall, separating the two showers.

Raven laughed when she heard a thump, a curse and another thud – guessing that the bottle had hit Liz on her body, causing her to swear, before falling onto the bottom of the shower cubicle.

Liz snapped open the bottle cap and smelled the liquid inside, before a grin spread across her lips.

"Yeah, this is the one."

The two girls were spending extra time in the shower due to the fact that the young mutants were going out to the local club that evening, whilst Erik and Charles were in a meeting for the night. Both girls also wanted to impress, but they wouldn't admit it.

* * *

><p>Forty minutes later, both girls were sat in Raven's room, with a selection of dresses on the bed. After the shower, they had popped back to their own rooms briefly to put their underwear on and grab a dressing gown, and in Liz's case, grab all of the dresses from her wardrobe, before meeting in the blonde's room.<p>

Liz and Raven both had large rollers pinned onto their heads – their hair nearly dry, and their make-up already applied.

"Well, I personally think the purple dress would look nice on you, and it will accentuate your curves," Liz grinned, gesturing to a thigh-length strapless number.

"Well then, I think the red one would look nice on you," Raven suggested, pointing at the short flapper-style dress.

Both girls, happy with their choice of dresses, began to unravel their hair from the rollers, before brushing it through gently, leaving both of them with a headful of volume and curls.

Once done with their hair, and the touching up of their make-up, they slid into their dresses, leaving the dressing gowns on the chairs.

"Damn girl," Raven looked at Liz, who wore her dress and had just slipped on a pair of nude high heels. "You've seriously got to get your legs out more often."

Liz giggled and made sure her clutch had all the things she needed inside it, before fastening it tightly.

Liz and Raven, who was wearing a pair of purple platform heels, grabbed a trench coat each and, with their arms looped together, began to make their way down to the main entrance.

The others were stood in the entrance hall, Sean, Hank and Alex making conversation with one another. Hank wore a plain t-shirt with a pair of chinos and a brown jacket, Sean wore a graphic t-shirt, under a hoody and a pair of dark skinny trousers, and Alex wore a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket and a pair of slim fitting jeans.

"We're here," Raven announced as she and Liz began descending the stairs.

Hank stared at Raven with unaltered fondness in his eyes, whilst Sean had more of a lustful look as he alternated between the two girls. Alex had a warmer look than lust in his eyes, as he looked at Liz, which caused Liz to blush slightly and Raven to elbow her gently.

"Damn, you've get legs," Sean said to Liz, as she and Raven reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Thanks, Sean," Liz said, rolling her eyes at him.

"Come on, the car's ready to go."

Raven and Liz tottered into the garage, followed by Hank, Sean and Alex, the latter two bickering about who were going to drive to the club.

"Look, if I drive there, you drive us back," Sean tried to force Alex to.

"Fine," Alex huffed, rolling his eyes at the ginger.

With a cheer, Sean hopped into the driver's seat, with Hank sitting beside him, whilst Liz was squished between Alex and Raven in the back seat.

The journey to the club consisted of the radio blaring out music, with the windows rolled down and the teens hyped up as they were getting closer to the club.

The club they were going to was called _Blitz_ and it was apparently a very good place to go for a fun time, which was perfect for the teens, who were in desperate need of a night out.

"We're here! We're here!" Raven cheered as Sean parked the car.

Once they walked inside the club, they were met with blaring music, flashing lights and the smell of alcohol.

"Let's grab a drink first," Raven suggested, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

The five teens made their way through the crowd of dancing bodies to reach the bar, where they all ordered different flavoured vodka.

"Cheers!" Liz shouted, holding her bottle in the air.

With a cheer coming from the other four, they _clinked_ bottles together, before tilting their heads back to consume the alcohol.

* * *

><p>A couple of hours later, the teens had consumed perhaps a little more vodka than they <em>should<em> have done, and were having the time of their lives.

Sean was chatting up a pretty little red-head at the opposite end of the bar, and she actually seemed to be falling for his flirtations, whilst Hank and Raven were dancing together on the dance floor, between all the crowds, with a sly grin on Raven's lips. That left Alex and Liz, who were at the bar, chatting together quite closely, their minds whirling from the alcohol and the music.

"You know," Alex stood closer to Liz, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she perched on the bar stool. "You really do have a nice pair of legs."

Liz smiled at Alex, crossing her legs, giving Alex a great view of her slender limbs.

"Well," Liz moved closer to him, her hand sliding under the hem of his top, her eyes half closed as she looked up at him, a small smirk on her face. "You have nice hair."

"How about a dance?"

"With you?"

"Who else?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Liz grinned slyly at him,

Leaving their drinks, the drunken pair, clasping hands, moved onto the dance floor, where Alex spun Liz in a circle, before clasping her to his chest.

The two moved slowly against one another, keeping in time to the beat of the music, brushing hands against bare skin to spark little reactions from the other.

Liz stretched on her toes, so her face was close to Alex's, and seemed to be about to kiss him; their lips had just a hairs breadth of space between them, both staring the other in the eye. Liz, grasping Alex's blonde hair with her slender digits, pulled him down so she could firmly press her lips to his. Alex's arms wove around her waist and pulled Liz closer to him, crushing any space between the two of them, as their eyes closed tightly. Liz parted her lips and, with a moan, Alex entered her mouth, clutching her waist tightly with his hands. Liz smiled and let her hands slip down to hang around Alex's neck, standing on her toes to keep her at the same height as him.

However, their fun was short-lived, as a hand came down on Alex's shoulder, causing the young male to break the kiss to see who it was.

It was Erik, and he did _not_ look impressed with the teens.

"Getting a bit too kinky for my liking," Erik smirked, but the humour didn't reach his eyes at all. "Come on, it's best if you leave without any fighting."

With a glare in the older man's direction, Alex and Liz began to walk away to the door, Alex's arm around her waist, his lips kissing her throat, making her giggle and reach up to kiss him. Erik, who was following close behind them, grabbed them both and separated them, causing both to glare at him again, before carrying on walking to the door, stopping only to pick up Liz's coat from the cloak room. Since Raven's coat was already gone, Liz slowly, in her drunken mind, figured out that Raven had already left the club.

As they walked outside the club, Alex moved away from Erik, before he pushed Liz up against the wall of the club, his lips on hers once more, as she wrapped one leg around his waist, showing even more skin of her thigh than she did before, both of them kissing furiously.

"Alright, that is enough!" Erik growled, pulling the teens apart once more.

"Get off me!" Liz tried to hit his arm, but only succeeded in batting his arm as gently as a butterfly's wing.

Alex stumbled off to one side, mumbling incoherently, whilst Liz carried on batting at Erik's arm.

Erik gripped both of their arms tightly and began dragging them over to the car, where Charles stood, gazing at them unhappily, with a sober-looking Hank, Raven and Sean stood beside him, not looking anyone in their eyes.

Liz and Alex were dragged to stand in front of Charles, and when they saw him, they quickly sobered up and looked at their feet, ashamed.

"Get in the car."

Silently, the five teens climbed into the car, two sat in the very back and three sat in the middle, whilst Charles and Erik climbed into the front two seats, with Charles driving.

"I am so disappointed in you all," Charles scolded the young mutants.

They were back at the mansion, and, despite the ungodly hour in the morning, they were stood in the kitchen, as Charles told them off for sneaking out.

"It was completely irresponsible and a reckless idea – to sneak out and go _clubbing_! Not only that, but you _steal_ one of my cars to go there," Charles was glaring at them. "You all know how dangerous Shaw is, and yet, you go out and get drunk! Putting you in your most vulnerable state with Shaw and his team out there!"

"But we were fine," Sean tried to reason.

"But you might not have been – what if Shaw happened to be recruiting in that club? Where would you be now?"

The silence answered Charles' question, as the teens stared at the floor, ashamed with their actions, as well as the fact that they were caught, which stung a lot more than anything else.

"I thought so," Charles said. "Now, get back to bed; you've got training in the morning."

Silently, the teens piled out of the room and made their way quickly and quietly to their separate rooms, not saying a single word on the journey.

Once inside her room, Liz slipped her heels off, sighing with relief when her feet sank into the carpet, and threw her coat onto her desk. Stripping her dress and throwing it into the washing basket in the corner of the room, she quickly wiped off her make up before climbing into bed, not bothering to change out of her underwear.

Lying on her back, staring up at the dark ceiling, Liz thought about her kiss, well, kiss_es_, with Alex. Despite her drunken state of mind, she could remember some of the night – her and Alex dancing, him kissing her, him pressing her up against the cool wall of the club.

Liz was puzzled as to how she saw Alex – was he a friend? Or something more?

After another few minutes of thinking, she decided firmly that Alex was nothing more than a friend, if that – and their night together was just a result of alcohol and the excitement of disobeying Charles, even if they had been caught.

Looking at the clock, and seeing the red numbers blinking at her in the dark, she decided she'd get some sleep – she'd want _some_ energy to be able to face training tomorrow, well, later on that morning.

Yawning, Liz turned over and buried her face into the pillows, letting her mind and body relax as she caught up on some much needed sleep.

* * *

><p>"Right then, this morning's training is just about working with one another; we won't be able to do well as a team if we can't work with one another," Charles spoke chirpily, to the sleepy teens and the bored-looking Erik, who all stood outside, wearing grey sweats. "You're going to be paired with someone, and you'll have a strap attaching one leg and one arm to each other. You'll then be given a clue on something to find – each thing will be different for each pair – and the pair who can work with each other the best will be the pair who get their objects first. Now then, the pairs are as follows; Alex and Liz, Hank and Sean, Raven and Erik."<p>

Silently, due to the fact that the teens were still trying to wake up, even with the cool morning air around them, they stood with their partners and allowed Charles to tie them up to one another for the exercise.

Liz and Alex listened to their clue 'the tree by the water' before setting off when Charles let them.

It took them a few moments, but they were soon able to walk at the same time and make sure they didn't trip over.

"Where do you think the water is?" Liz asked Alex, looking at him.

He shrugged, looking forwards. "No idea…but I saw a pond on the other side of the house; I can see it from my window."

"Good idea, we should try there first then."

The two walked in silence for a couple of minutes, not in any rush to find the clue quickly, because the pond was fairly close to where they were.

"What did you mean when you said you were 'a wanted criminal'," Alex spoke, looking down at the girl beside him.

Liz bit her lip and looked at the ground, unwilling to answer Alex's question, thinking back to the moment where her life had gone horribly wrong.

"Liz?" Alex nudged her gently with his elbow.

Liz looked up at him, tears brimming in her eyes; something that caused worry to bubble up inside him.

"Hey, hey, look at me," he placed his free hand on her shoulder in comfort. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No, no; I need to tell someone about it," Liz hurriedly wiped her tears away, angry at the fact that she was crying in front of Alex.

Alex waited patiently for her to calm down and take a few deep breaths in, before she looked up at him, determination showing in her eyes.

"When I was nine years old, my parents were teasing me about a game we had played that I had lost – it was all in good nature though, and you could tell they didn't mean it seriously – but I got so annoyed at them, I began shouting and screaming at them to stop. That was when I felt something inside me break out, and the next thing I knew, something had burst out of me and thrown them into the glass doors. They died from the impact of the fall. That was when I realised that I had turned into a metal-like form, and I was a mutant – causing their death," on the last few words, Liz's voice cracked, and she began welling up again.

Alex immediately pulled the Velcro strap off their hands and pulled her into a tight hug, whispering calming nothings into her ear.

"Come on," Alex spoke, once Liz had calmed down again. "Let's go inside."

"But what about the exercise?" Liz glanced up at him, her eyes red and her cheeks flushed and damp.

"Screw the exercise, you need someone to talk to," Alex muttered, keeping his arm firmly around her shoulders as they began to walk back to the doors of the house.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>


	6. First Training Session

**Hi, I'm _really_ sorry for not updating sooner - I went on holiday for my half term holidays, and I was supposed to update before I left, but I felt that the chapter needed some more work done on it, so I had to leave it until I came back.  
>A warning for you all - updating will definitely be slower because my GCSEs are literally only two weeks away for some subjects, so I'm devoting most of my time to revision and homework, with my stories coming last.<strong>

**Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

><p>"Where the hell were the two of you?" Charles demanded, storming into the living room where the two 'missing' teens were. He had been waiting outside with the others to see if they knew where Alex and Liz had disappeared to. When no one knew, he decided to organise a small search party, sending Erik, Sean, Hank and Raven into the grounds, with himself. An hour later, they had returned to the front of the house, where Erik saw two shadowy figures moving about behind the window of the nearby room. Charles, using his telepathy, had quickly figured out who was sat inside, and, after cancelling all group training for the rest of the day, strode inside, a stony expression on his face.<p>

Alex and Liz looked up from where they were sat on the couch, the fire roaring in front of them.

Charles faltered in his glare when he saw Liz's eyes were slightly puffy; he had lived with Raven long enough to know when a girl had been crying, no matter how long ago.

"My dear, are you alright?" Charles asked, this time with worry in his voice, as he strode forwards and knelt before Liz, taking her hands, which were on her lap, in his.

"I-I was just reliving some horrible memories," Liz spoke. "And I feel that you need to know about them."

"Liz, they're your private memories, you don't need to think that I must know everything about your lives; I'm more than happy to know as little as you tell me."

"No, you _need_ to know; it might help me control my mutation a little better," Liz was adamant about the subject.

"Whenever you're ready to tell me, Liz, feel free," Charles smiled gently, standing up to leave.

"Wait," Liz stood up and grabbed his hand, stopping him from leaving the room. "I want you to know now…but I don't…I _can't_ physically tell you what happened."

"So," Charles was quick to realise what Liz wanted him to do. "You're giving me permission to read your mind?"

Liz nodded, sitting back down on the sofa, beside Alex, who immediately took one of her hands in his, for reassurance.

Charles sat on the plump chair beside the sofa, watching Liz's face carefully for any signs of uncertainty. When he saw none, he lifted a hand to his temple and gently pushed himself into Liz's mind, specifically, her memories.

Liz felt an unfamiliar fluttering in her mind, and guessed that Charles was inside her brain. She found proof of that, when she felt him sorting through her memories, leaving little marks, like fingerprints, on them as he did so. She tensed slightly when he accessed the memory she had recalled to Alex earlier, but didn't block him. Instead, she let him see all of it, closing her eyes as she did so, to make sure she didn't accidentally force Charles out of her mind when he was looking at the earliest, and most important, memory she had of her mutation.

After what seemed like an eternity of reliving the moment she killed her parents, Charles left her mind, and she opened her eyes.

Charles was staring at her with utter regret and sadness in his eyes.

"I don't want your pity," Liz said, looking at the plush carpet instead of the two men in the room.

"All I want to say is that I _will_ help you with your mutation, and you _will_ learn to control it perfectly, or as damn near as we can get you," Charles said firmly.

Liz looked up at him and saw the determination shining in his eyes. She squeezed Alex's hand gently and gave Charles a small smile.

"Thank you." It was no more than a broken whisper, but Charles heard it perfectly.

* * *

><p>"Are you sure this thing will hold?" Liz asked Charles, as they stood in a bunker.<p>

A few days had gone by since their conversation, and in those few days, Charles had taken a day to train Alex, Hank and Sean separately. Today was Liz's day, and she was very nervous.

Her tank top and grey sweat pants did nothing to stop the cold from the bunker seeping through her bones – even her feet were cold in the white tennis shoes.

"Of course; my father made sure the bunkers were strong enough to survive a nuclear war – they even survived Alex's blasts," Charles smiled at the memory. "Anyway, back to you. Hank, as you know, has been looking at your DNA and, in essence, your mutation, and he has some brilliant news to tell you. I'll tell you the basics, but once we're done here, if you could go and see him in the lab, he'll explain it in more detail."

"Of course," Liz answered kindly.

"Right then, Hank found out that your mutation branches off into three separate areas; something we've never seen before. The first one is your shield, which is strong enough to penetrate several feet of concrete. The second basically comes with the properties of titanium, making you incredibly strong. The third and final one, now this is something we need to work on, is that you are bulletproof."

Liz stared at Charles, her eyes widening incredibly, making her look almost like a bush baby with her large eyes.

"Bulletproof…?"

"Yes, now I know this is a lot to take in at the moment, but we're going to work through it one step at a time, okay?"

"What? So you mean, as in, stop bullets? But the only way you can test that is by…" Liz trailed off, looking at Charles with a frightened expression on her face.

"Liz, calm down," Charles placed a hand on her shoulders. "We're not going to try anything you don't feel comfortable with just yet. Okay? First, I just want to see how powerful you can get your shield to be; that will be your main weapon against anyone like Shaw."

"How will I do that?"

"See that metal sheet," Charles pointed down to the end of the bunker, where a large sheet of metal stood, just before the end. "I want you to try and smash it with your shield. You think you can do that?"

Liz looked at the sheet, before nodding slowly, looking back to Charles. "I think so."

"Great," he took a few steps back to stand by the wall. "When you're ready."

Liz looked at the wall and rolled her shoulders slightly, trying to relax her muscles, before she tensed up.

Throwing her arms forwards, her shield flew out of her body and sped towards the shield, before smashing into it. However, it barely dented the metal, leaving only a small mark to show any sign of it being there, causing Liz to huff.

"Right then, that's exactly what I expected," Charles spoke, walking towards the teen and placing a hand on her shoulders. "In this form, you're not at your full potential. However, is you were to be in your titanium form, I believe you would be at least four times as powerful as you are now."

"So, you want me to try again?" Liz asked the older man.

"Yep, but in your titanium form."

Liz sent him a wary glance, but she willingly changed her body once more, until she was titanium. Then, she turned back to the metal sheet and threw another shield forwards. However, this one was much more powerful than the last; for starters, it made a gaping hole in the metal sheet, and smashed part of the wall behind it, and it sent Liz flying backwards, so she landed heavily on her back, a few metres away from where she originally stood.

"Liz!"

Charles darted forwards to help the young woman up, but stopped when he saw she was laughing, quite hysterically.

"Are you okay?" he asked, wondering if she had hit her head.

"Yep; I'm fine, no need to worry," Liz grinned, trying to stop her giggles from bubbling up in her throat.

She took his outstretched hand and hopped to her feet, where the two turned to inspect the damage done by her shield.

"Wow…" Charles blinked at the sight of the cracks in the bunker wall. "And that thing's supposed to be able to survive a nuclear war…"

"Oh…" Liz's eyes widened slightly at the thought. "I'm stronger than I thought."

"That you are Liz," Charles clapped a hand on her shoulder. "That you are."

* * *

><p>"So, this is your DNA, with the mutation, and you can see here, by comparing it to the others' DNA and mutations, that your mutation is actually split into the three different parts."<p>

Liz squinted at the computer screen, unable to see what Hank was pointing out with a blue pen.

"Where?"

"Here."

"_Where_?"

"_Here_," Hank pressed a few keys, so the screen zoomed in slightly, and the three different parts of the DNA were in different colours. "Does that help?"

"Ah, thanks," Liz grinned at the young man beside her, before looking back at the screen. "So what does it mean?"

"Well, I've done as much research as I could on this, but seeing as the discovery and study of the mutant gene is fairly new, there hasn't been anything to go on. All I can say is that you're very powerful," Hank admitted, leaning back in his chair.

"Shaw mentioned that," Liz spoke after a moment of thinking.

"Well, how would he know?" Hank asked, leaning forwards.

"I don't know," Liz shrugged, her brow furrowing in confusion. "He said it to me, just before he…well…just before the incident."

The mutants had silently made a pact to never speak of the subject of Darwin's death; it was still too soon after the incident, and it was still a stinging wound for all of them.

Hank placed his hand over Liz's slightly, squeezing it with a small smile on his face. Liz returned the smile, grasping his hand in a friendly way.

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about; there's no way Shaw could have the technology advanced enough, or even any of your DNA, to find out anything about you," Hank consoled.

"Thanks Hank," Liz sat beside him, thankful that she was able to make a good friend under all the stress.

* * *

><p>Later on, in the evening of the first day of training, Liz was sat on the stone bench, looking out at the sunset on the balcony.<p>

Raven sat opposite her, clutching a hot mug of tea between her hands with her legs crossed and her ankles resting on the table between them.

"So, what did you find out about your mutation today?" Raven asked the bronze-haired woman, glancing at her from over the rim of her mug.

"You knew I was in the lab?" Liz questioned, arching one eyebrow.

"Sure; we all knew because Charles wouldn't shut up about it. He's so excited at the idea that your mutation branches off – the rest of us got a two hour long speech on it and mutations in general."

"Really?"

"Mhm – it was actually quite boring, since none of us knew any of the language he was using; even Erik had a hard time keeping his eyes open. But – oh, Liz you should have seen this – Sean fell asleep, and at first, he was able to hide it, but then he started snoring, so Erik elbowed him in the ribs, to wake him up, and he fell off the sofa!"

* * *

><p>"<em>I mean, this is the first ever mutant I've met or read about who's had their mutation branch off into different parts!" Charles paced in front of the large window, his hands emphasising his excitement at the recent discovery.<em>

"_Fascinating Charles," Erik murmured dryly, not looking up from the paper he was reading._

_Erik was the lucky one, as he had taken the only source of readable material in that room, leaving the other mutants to, after sending the older mutant harsh glares, listen to Charles' long speech about how amazing mutated genes were. However, Erik still found it hard to stop his eyelids from drooping occasionally, especially when he read the newspaper for the fifth time in a row. Raven was busy playing a game of thumb wars with Alex, – their twentieth match – and Sean was leaning on his hand, his eyes closed, showing he was asleep._

_Sean began to do the unfortunate thing of snoring. It was quite quiet at first, but it slowly got louder and louder, annoying Alex and Raven, and infuriating Erik beyond belief. Charles seemed not to notice, since he was still talking, but Erik realised that Sean's snores were increasing in volume, and that it wouldn't be a long time before Charles actually paid attention to the situation, and saw the red-head was asleep._

_This thought caused Erik, being the 'kind' man his is, to elbow Sean sharply in the ribs._

_His jab did succeed in waking up the young mutant, but it also succeeded in causing him to yell out, before tumbling off the sofa, where he landed on to floor in an undignified heap._

* * *

><p>The two girls burst into hysterics – their laughter ringing across the balcony and out around the west side of the house.<p>

Liz, finding it hard to breathe, was bent double, clutching her sides as she wheezed, whilst Raven had her head thrown back and was choking with silent laughter.

"Only Sean…" Liz smiled, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Definitely," Raven agreed, her laughter subsiding.

The two girls took in deep breaths until their laughter had calmed down, before sitting back and looking at the setting sun, sipping their drinks and giving out the odd giggle.

"So, what did you do in training today?" Raven asked, setting her empty mug down on the table.

"Well, Charles helped me to realise that if I'm in my titanium form, I'm a lot strong than I am in this form – including my shield. We found out that if I throw my shield against a sheet of metal in this form, it barely dents it. However, if I throw the same shield forwards in my titanium form, it goes straight through the sheet and damages the back wall of the bunker. I also found out that I am probably bulletproof and incredibly strong."

"Bulletproof?" Raven's eyes bugged out of her head.

"That's exactly the same that I had when I found out," Liz grinned.

"But how is Charles going to train you against that?"

"I don't think we're going to be going down that line _just_ yet."

"I hope not – if he does start, let me know and I'll have a few words with him."

Liz glanced at Raven and saw she was being deadly serious, causing the girls to share a smile with one another.

"Come on, we'd best get back to our rooms; Charles will kill us if we're up too late," Raven said, once she checked the watch that rested delicately on her wrist.

Liz nodded and reached for Raven's spare mug, but it was already in the blonde's hand, her left stretched out to Liz.

"I'll take them down to the kitchen," Raven smiled. "I know this place even better than you, so I'll know where to put them."

"Thanks," Liz handed her now empty mug to Raven, before she walked inside, followed by the other. "I'll see you in the morning."

After called 'good night' over her shoulder, Raven headed down the hall to the stairs, whilst Liz padded in the opposite direction to her room.

Once reaching her room, she let her clothes fall into a pile on the floor, not caring if they crumpled, and slid on her nightwear, before rolling under the covers and burying her face into the pillows, welcoming the sleep gladly.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

**X**


	7. The First Date

**I am so sorry for the delay, but I've been concentrating on my Drama exam (for which, I've had rehearsals most nights) and my Technology practical deadline (of which, I've been spending all other free days after school working on my project). But I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

><p>"Are you serious?"<p>

"Liz, calm down; he's not going to hurt you."

"He's got a gun, Charles – a _gun_!"

"I know, but he won't hurt you."

"You want me to die!"

"I don't Liz, and trust me, he _won't_ hurt you."

"But you're going to make him shoot me!"

"It's only to try to test your powers, and we won't do it if you don't want us to, plus Erik can stop the bullet if you get scared."

"But he doesn't like me!"

"I might like you more if you didn't refer to me in the third person, since I _am_ stood in front of you," Erik commented dryly.

Liz just glared at Erik, who held up his hands in mock surrender. The position was quite comical for the three other young mutants, since Erik was holding a gun in his left hand.

"And you've got the others to watch me die as well," Liz gestured to Alex, Raven and Sean, who were sat on the bench outside, watching the scene with amusement.

"Liz, just please, calm down," Charles placed his hand on her bare shoulder; Liz's jacket was on the bench. "You won't die."

"How do you know? How do you know he's not thinking about killing me as soon as he shoots me?"

Charles merely tapped the side of his head, answering her question without speaking.

"Ah," Liz silence, feeling embarrassed at not thinking about her question properly.

"Liz," Charles placed both hands on her shoulders and turned the young mutant so she was facing him. "I don't want to force you into doing anything you don't feel comfortable with, but I _know_ you can do this – you just need to trust yourself and me. Don't worry about Erik; I trust him with my life and I hope you can do the same – he won't kill you."

Liz looked into Charles' eyes, and saw they held nothing but truth and honesty in them, which caused Liz to finally make up her mind about this training.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?"

Charles' face broke into a smile as he hugged her, before letting go of her and turning to face Hank and Erik, who were stood a few feet away.

"Right then, if you could stand there Liz…no, no, just in front of Erik…a bit further back…there you go. Now, this is what's going to happen is that you, Liz, are going to stand in your titanium form, and when you're ready, Erik's going to fire the gun. Your form will deflect the bullet, leaving you stood there, alive, with a used bullet at your feet," Charles explained.

"There's less than 0.01% chance of anything bad happening," Hank added.

Liz blanched and turned to look at Hank, who had glares sent at him from Erik and Charles for making Liz fret again.

"So there's still a chance that something might happen?"

"Well, what I meant was –"

"Hank, stop talking. Liz, you'll be fine, trust me."

Charles nodded to Liz, who looked to the ground for a moment, seeming to be deliberating something in her mind, before raising her head once more.

She inhaled deeply, allowing the familiar wave to ripple across her body, revealing her titanium form.

"I'm ready," she nodded to Erik, who lifted up his right hand, the gun in his grasp.

A gunshot rang out when Erik pulled the trigger, and the group tensed in silence, their gazes snapping towards Liz, who had jolted back with the shot.

Liz stood shaking, looking down at her hands, which were covering her abdomen. She slowly opened them to reveal a small, crushed bullet lying in her palm.

Looking up at Charles, her form shifting back to human, she let out a shaky laugh, before looking back at the bullet in her hands.

Raven, Alex and Sean stood up with a cheer, applauding Liz for her success, whilst Hank gave her a quick hug, Erik a smile and Charles and tight hug, with a whispered 'told you so' in her ear.

* * *

><p>Later that day, it was Sean's turn to do some training. He had already had some training with Charles and Moira, but today he was trying out some new equipment, designed for him especially by Hank.<p>

Liz, who had changed into a set of beige capris, white tennis shoes and a long sleeved salmon-coloured top, was leaning out of one of the windows of the lab, looking over the shoulders of Raven, Hank and Erik, who were all excited to see what Sean was about to accomplish.

Ever since Liz's success that morning, the atmosphere around the group seemed to have risen, causing them all to be hopeful of what training with Charles would offer them.

Sean was sat on the ledge of the window beside them (the one over the bushes), wearing some sort of cape attached to his ankles and wrists, forming wings on his sides. Charles and Hank were either side of Charles, and they seemed to be reassuring Sean in what he was about to do.

"Now remember," Charles was giving Sean some last words of advice. "Scream as hard as you can."

"You need the sound waves to be supersonic," Hank inputted. "Catch them at the right angle and they should carry you."

Liz came to the conclusion that despite the fact that Hank was a lovely person to talk to, and meant well with all he said, he tended to explain things rather bluntly, instead of sugar-coating it as Charles did, usually making the person training feel like they were about to die.

"Should carry me? That's reassuring," Sean muttered.

"Good luck," Charles patted his back, before he and Hank ducked back inside the room.

Sean began breathing quicker, obviously worried about what might happen, before signing a cross on his chest.

"And don't forget to scream!" Charles called quickly.

Sean stretched out his arms, opening the wings and looked back at Charles, before facing the ground once more.

Liz held her breath as he pushed off the window.

However, Sean made a squawk-like sound as he fell, and just landed in the bushes, instead of flying anywhere.

The noise caused Liz to snort, but the way Sean fell into the bushes caused the four mutants in the second window to burst out laughing.

Liz ducked back into the room as she wiped tears of mirth away from her eyes, checking her fingers and the backs of her hands to make sure her mascara hadn't smudged and left her with panda eyes.

Hank and Charles dashed past her, leaving the room rather quickly – probably to find Sean and check that he, and his devise, was okay.

"Liz," Liz turned around to see Alex stood before her, his hands in his pockets.

"Yes?" Liz smiled, walking towards him.

"Do you fancy watching a film later? I know there's one on later at the cinema – just in town."

"Which one?"

"Um…I think it was called…How The West…something or other – it had John Wayne in it."

"How The West Won?" a smile crossed Liz's face.

"Yeah, that's the one. Do you like it?"

"Yeah; I love John Wayne; his western films are brilliant!"

"So, would you like to?"

"Sure, what time is it on?"

"Eight, but it would take us about an hour to drive down to town, so we'd need to leave at about six thirty to be sure of getting seats," Alex informed her.

"Excellent, shall we meet in the hall?"

"Sure."

Alex smiled at Liz, who returned it, before walking out of the room and off to who knows where.

Liz watched after him, a slight smile on her face as she did so, before Raven walked up to her and bumped her hip with her own.

"So…?" Raven trailed off, sending Liz a smirk.

"So?" Liz replied, an innocent expression on her face.

"Come on – you're going on a date with Alex!" Raven squealed, grabbing Liz's arms and shaking her, as if to get the fact into her head.

"I know," Liz grinned, holding Raven's hands in her own. "I just need to speak to Charles about going out though; he's got the only transport around, so we'll need to ask if we can borrow one of his cars."

"I'm sure you'll be allowed," Erik spoke for the first time, causing the girls to turn and look at him in slight shock. "As long as I _don't_ have to drag you out of a club with his tongue down your throat and your hands down his trousers."

Erik walked out of the room, leaving his sarcastic comment in the air and the two girls stood frozen, one of whom was blushing furiously, the other looked quite curious about the matter.

"_Hand_ down his trousers?" Raven turned on Liz. "_Tongue_ down your throat?"

"Well…" Liz trailed off at seeing Raven's expression, and realised, unhappily, that she was going to have to tell Raven what happened the night at the club, seeing as Raven was too drunk to remember anything.

* * *

><p>Liz was stood in the entrance hall, leaning against the banister with her coat thrown over her arm, waiting for Alex.<p>

After telling Raven about the events of the night out, Raven had tried to force Liz into a pretty dress for her evening date. Liz had adamantly refused, seeing nothing wrong with her outfit, but allowed Raven to twist her bronze hair into thick curls, which bounced around her shoulders with every step she took.

She glanced at the thin watch on her left wrist, seeing that the time was six twenty-three. Looking back up, she leaned her head back, knowing she was early, so she would have to wait even longer for Alex to arrive, since he would probably get there on time, not early as she did.

"You're early," Alex's deep voice called out, causing Liz to glance up and see that he was walking down the stairs towards her.

"Yeah, it's a habit I've had for a while, I guess," Liz smiled at him, scratching the back of her head.

Alex just shared her smile and hopped down the last few stairs, coming to a stop beside her.

"So, you ready?"

"Mhm."

Alex gestured for Liz to follow him into the garage, where he headed straight for the red, low down car at the far end of the garage.

"What car is this?" Liz asked when Alex held the door open for her.

"It's an AC Cobra Classic," Alex replied, closing the door once she was sat down in, before walking around to the other side and climbing in himself.

"She's very nice," Liz commented.

"Yeah," Alex grinned at her and turning on the engine, before looking over his shoulder to reverse out of the large garage. "And she's a smooth runner – one of the best I've driven."

* * *

><p>The sun was out as the two drove down the long driveway, shining brightly and spreading warmth across the land, meaning the two were only cooled down due to the breeze they rushing around them, since the car didn't have a roof.<p>

Alex took great fun in making fun of Liz when she clutched her hands to her head, trying to stop her hair from messing up too much, but her efforts were all in vain. Instead, Liz gave up and just let it be buffeted by the wind as she rested her chin on her arms and leaned on the car door, watching the sun slowly lower itself in the sky as they drove along the road.

"Are you feeling better?" Alex broke the silence, glancing over at the young woman to his left.

Liz looked at him and, upon seeing the regret and worry in his eyes, knew immediately what he was talking about.

"I'm feeling a lot better than I have ever felt before," she replied honestly. "I needed to tell someone…to-to let it all out of my system, but I didn't expect myself to burst into tears whilst doing it. But looking back now, I can see that I was just mourning for something I should have mourned for years ago…I suppose I've been numb whenever I've thought about it…but that's it; I've never thought about it…" Liz trailed off and looked away once more.

Alex glanced at the road, quickly altered the direction; they were beginning to turn off the road slightly, before looking back to Liz and placing a hand on her knee.

"You didn't have to tell me all about it, you know."

"I know, but you were going to listen," Liz looked at him. "And I trust you." The trust she had for him was showing openly in her eyes; something that stirred an odd feeling inside Alex's chest. "So, I saw no reason to tell you my story."

Deciding to add some humour to the rather sombre atmosphere, Alex spoke up in response.

"Well, if you have another secret and saddening past, the next time you spring it up on me, can you at least not go into hysterics?" Liz began giggling at his statement, causing him to look at her earnestly, but laughter sparkling in his eyes. "Honestly; I was so scared, since I had no idea how to comfort a crying girl; I've never had to before in my life." By this time, Liz was clutching her sides and leaning her head on the dashboard in front of her, her shoulders shaking with her silent laughter.

"I can't believe you," Liz choked out after a few moments, her giggles subsiding.

Alex let out a chuckle, before turning his concentration back onto the road, leaving his hand on her knee.

And did you know; Liz never once moved his hand?

* * *

><p>The evening out had been a success in Alex's eyes, and a fantastic time in Liz's.<p>

They got to the cinema, bought tickets and got good seats for their film. They enjoyed the bottle of cola they took with them to keep them refreshed. They both thoroughly enjoyed the film; both having a secret love for western films, especially ones with John Wayne in.

However, one thing that didn't go well happened when they were walking out of the screen, both laughing and mentioning their favourite parts from the film.

As they walked past a couple of young men, one, a cocky, arrogant sod, took it upon himself to reach forwards and slap Liz on her bum, causing her to let out a small yelp and skitter forwards slightly. Alex had turned with fury burning in his eyes and had demanded to know what gave the boys the right to do that to Liz. The one who had slapped her had claimed that there was enough of her to share, so Alex was free to join them if he did.

Before anything got out of hand, a burly security guard had walked over and asked Liz if everything was alright.

She had replied that it was fine, and that she and Alex were just leaving. The guard had let her and Alex go, but turned to 'have a quiet word' with the other lads, who didn't seem at all happy with the way the situation had turned the tables onto them.

Once outside, Liz felt all adrenaline in her body fade, causing her legs to begin to shake slightly. She grabbed onto Alex's arm, so he turned to make sure everything was alright and half supported her weight, until she was able to stand on her own feet without wobbling. From there, the two made their way back to the car, grabbing another cola for the journey back, and left, heading home in the late evening.

* * *

><p>The car pulled into the garage, and Alex turned off the engine, switching the lights off and allowing the silence around them to take over.<p>

"You didn't have to stand up for me earlier," Liz spoke, breaking the silence first.

"I did; they were twits who deserved to be told what to do and where to stick their –"

"Okay – thank you," Liz cut him off before he could swear, leaving the two in silence once more.

He turned to look at her, and saw she was facing him, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Liz?" he questioned her when she shifted in her seat.

She didn't reply, instead, she leaned forwards and pressed her lips softly to Alex's.

It was a sweet, short kiss, one that was chaste and tender at the same time. One that the two wouldn't forget in a hurry.

"Thank you for this evening," Liz smiled shyly, a blush covering the tops of her cheeks as she spoke.

"My pleasure," Alex smiled back, slightly dazed but overjoyed at the way the evening date had turned out.

The two climbed out of the car and made their way back into the house, pausing at the top of the stairs, where they wished each other a quiet goodnight. Alex kissed Liz on her cheek before they parted and left for their own rooms.

Liz was happy in her little piece of joy, not caring about anything else in the world.

Until a certain blonde-haired mutant poked her head around her bedroom door, grinning when she saw Liz padding up the stairs.

Liz caught her gaze and groaned, knowing it was going to be a _long_ night.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading!<strong>

**X**


	8. Helping Havok

**I am so, so sorry for the incredibly long wait. I've really got no excuse; sure, I had to do my exams, but I've had an 18 week summer holiday as well, and in that time, I've done absolutely nothing, just browsing on Tumblr.  
>We're really getting into the storyline of First Class here, and I should be updating more often now, especially since I've gotten my inspiration back (and recently gained an annoying younger sister who has read it and been bugging me about updating for weeks now!).<br>So, without further ado, here's chapter 8 of Titanium!  
>Enjoy!<strong>

* * *

><p>"Okay, okay – he kissed me."<p>

"He _kissed_ you!"

"Well, on the cheek; I was the one to initiate the first –"

"But he was the one to lean in?"

"Yes."

"And he saved you from those other guys?"

"Well, I didn't _really_ need saving –"

"You _have_ to go out with him again; he's the perfect gentleman!"

"I know," Liz sighed and, with a smile on her face she sank against the fluffy cushions. "But," she sat up straight once more. "But –"

"But _what_?" Raven leaned forwards, slightly annoyed at her friend for not seeing how mad she actually was for the young man.

"What if he doesn't want a relationship?"

Raven's frown disappeared and she smiled at her friend, who had curled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

She scooted over to the bronze-haired girl and threw an arm over her shoulder.

"Trust me girl, from the way Alex looked at you on that evening out, he's wanted to have a relationship with you for _ages_!"

"You think so?" Liz peered at Raven from the side of her eyes.

"I _know_ so, and don't doubt me again," Raven pinched her hip.

"What was that for?" Liz exclaimed, jumping back and rubbing her hip.

"For not believing me!"

Liz sent Raven a stony glare, her face a mask of utter disbelief.

"Come on –" Raven's sentence was cut short by a large white pillow, which had conveniently smacked into Raven's face with a good force.

Slowly, the pillowed slipped onto her lap, revealing her shocked, frozen expression.

That was too much for Liz to cope with; she immediately burst into hysterical laughter at the sight of her best friend's shock.

However, her laughter didn't last long. Only a few moments later, Liz's vision was clouded by another pillow, this one from Raven, who sat with a smug smirk on her face.

Liz sat up, grabbed the closest pillow to her and, with a cry of laughter, leapt at Raven, brandishing the pillow in the air, before bringing it down on her best friend. Raven shrieked with laughter and managed to squirm out of her Liz's grasp, before grabbing her own pillow and retaliating with her own blows from the pillow.

The squeals and laughter of the two girls echoed around the halls of the large manor, waking up several people, one of whom was _very_ annoyed that he had been awoken at such an ungodly hour.

The door knocking startled both girls out of their laughter, and they both stopped, staring silently at the door.

The knocking started up once more, this time, harsher and louder than before.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," Raven called, climbing to her feet and going over to the door. "Hello?" she opened it and peered around it, hiding her tank top and underwear clad body from whoever was on the other side of the door.

"Why are you screaming this loudly this early in the morning? Come on Raven, it's past midnight!"

Liz recognised the voice to belong to Sean, who sounded very ratty and tired.

"What were you doing anyway?" Sean muttered, sounding like he was stifling a yawn.

"Just having a pillow fight, why?" Raven replied coyly.

"In just your pyjamas?"

Liz grinned to herself at the sound of Sean, who seemed to be suddenly awake and very excited.

"You pervert!" Liz began laughing at Raven's comment, and started to laugh even harder when she heard the sharp slap, followed by Sean's yell of pain and anger.

"_Raven_!"

"Sean, tut-tut-tut, now who's shouting," Raven scolded him, Liz now completely in hysterics, lying flat on her back on the bed.

Sean mumbled something in response, before the door shut, followed by the shuffling of feet, signalling that Sean had wandered back down the hall to his bedroom.

Liz glanced up as Raven jumped onto the bed beside her; her laughter subsided, leaving her with feeling slightly weary.

"Don't you dare go to sleep yet; we've still got the nails and makeup to do, and don't even get me started on the hair!"

* * *

><p>The next day, Charles decided to spend some more time working on Alex's power, and testing the device Hank had created as a way to control the energy Alex shot out, leaving the four remaining mutants to use the time however they fancied.<p>

Raven went down to the room they were using as a gym, to use some of the weights, but as Liz was about to wander out of the kitchen, where they were all currently convened, Charles stopped her.

"Liz, if it isn't too much to ask, I was wondering if you would be able to help Alex focus when using his power," Charles spoke quietly to Liz, his blue eye pleading with her. "I know for a fact that only _you_ can help him control his emotions fully enough to help him progress in controlling his power successfully."

Liz felt a slight blush appear on the top of her cheeks, but she agreed all the same. "Of course."

Liz, Alex and Charles all stood inside the bunker in an awkward silence. Hank was late with the device he had been working on for Alex; quite considerably so.

Alex had a slight scowl on his face, and Liz guessed it was something to do with the fact that his last training exercise hadn't gone so well. This gave reason for the extra fire extinguishers set just outside the doors to the bunker.

The hurried shuffling from just outside the open doors let the three mutants know Hank was finally here.

"Sorry I'm late," Hank rushed inside, carrying some sort of blue tabard over his arm and a white mannequin under his other arm.

"Right then, now that we're all here," Charles smiled, clapping his hands together as Hank handed the tabard to Alex. "Alex, you know what this does so we can skip the explanations part and just get started."

Liz watched as Alex slipped the tabard over his head, obviously knowing exactly how to wear it.

"Liz, this panel just helps Alex control his energy, the rings you've seen, and turn them into one long beam. But it's all up to Alex to direct the energy to what he wants to hit," Charles whispered to the young woman, pointing to the circular panel on Alex's chest. "Come along Liz, you can help Hank."

Liz caught the roll of black insulating tape with the bemused glance, but followed him and Hank, who was still carrying the mannequin, to the opposite end of the bunker, leaving Alex.

Hank set the mannequin down and gestured to the tape. Liz tore a long strip off and handed it to him, tearing off a second as he applied the first to the mannequin's belly in a diagonal line. When he added the second, Liz saw he had made a cross – a target for Alex to aim at.

"Wonderful work Hank, thank you very much. Liz, can you stand on the other side of the mannequin beside Hank? Thank you," Charles smiled at Liz as she complied with his orders, and he went to stand on the mannequin's left. "Alright Alex, I want you to hit the 'X', and try not to hit me, there's a good chap."

The severity of the situation his Liz like a train – Alex was going to aim at the mannequin whilst Liz, Hank and Charles were all standing around it. And judging by the expression on Alex's face, this was a new idea to him as well.

"You're serious?" Alex demanded, his gaze flickering from Charles to Liz.

Hank and Liz exchanged a nervous glance, Liz clearly looking calmer than Hank.

"I'm very serious," Charles replied. "I have complete and utter faith in you."

Alex looked at Liz, who just nodded slowly, her eyes showing the confidence she had for him, and it was that look in her eyes that urged him on.

Liz watched as the muscles in Alex's arms and neck tensed, showing the utter concentration he was putting into this. However, when a singular beam of red energy shot out from the device on his chest and hit the mannequin beside her, sending it up in flames, Liz ran to the side, following Hank, both of them covering their heads as they threw themselves at the wall of the bunker.

Liz slowly turned her head, removing her arms from around her eyes, when she heard Alex's laughter. She smiled as she saw he was laughing with joy at the fact that he was able to control his power, to the extent of choosing singular targets. Charles and Hank also turned to look at the burning mannequin, proof that Charles' latest plan had been a success.

Liz darted over to Alex and threw her arms around him in a tight hug, one which he reciprocated by lifting her off her feet slightly.

When he set her back down, she saw he shared a smile and a wink with Charles; both men happy at the turn of events.

"Am I still a bozo?" Hank asked Alex.

"Yes Hank, you're still a bozo," this reply caused Liz to gently smack his chest. "But nice job," he added, catching Liz's hand with his own and twisting their fingers together.

* * *

><p>"Well done on yesterday," Liz smiled at Alex as they slowly walked around the grounds the next day. "I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you much; Raven wanted us to have a girly evening together, which was why we weren't at dinner."<p>

"The table was a lot quieter last night," Alex chuckled. It was one of the few things Charles insisted upon; every Sunday, the group all have dinner together in the main dining room.

"Yep, Raven knew _exactly_ how to get Charles to let us not only have dinner in our rooms, but to have a different meal entirely."

"I wish we could've done something like that."

"What? Have a meal in one of our rooms and give each other makeovers?"

Alex turned to Liz sharply, only to see her looking at him with an amused look on her face. She elbowed him in his ribs gently, smiling as she did so.

"I was joking, silly."

"_Silly_?" Alex glanced down at the grinning girl, who nodded in response. "Well, maybe since I'm so _silly_, you won't want to be seen out with someone like me." He sniffed, stuck his nose in the air and began to strut off, leaving Liz behind, gaping at him.

"Hey! Wait!" Liz began to jog after him, but soon found his legs, despite her height, were too long; his strides as well. "Slow down; you're too fast!"

She caught up with him and grabbed his hand, swinging them as she slowed to a walk beside him. Alex swung his arm across here until it rested on her shoulder, so her left arm was positioned across her body with their fingers still tangled together, resting just below her shoulder.

"So, what are we?" Liz asked after a few beats of silence.

"Sorry?" Alex glanced at her, confusion filling his expression. "Mutants? People? Young adults?"

"No, I mean…as a relationship view; what would we be classed as?"

"Here and now?"

"Yeah."

"A couple," Alex answered instantly, but when Liz remained silent, he began to panic. "I mean, only if you're okay with that."

"Why wouldn't I be okay with it?" Liz looked at him, smiling tenderly. "It was the answer I wished to hear."

"But you were silent…" Alex trailed off, unsure of how to pose the question.

"I was merely thinking."

"About?"

Liz looked away, her cheeks burning; something Alex _didn't_ miss.

"About me?"

The silence from Liz was all Alex needed to boost his ego. Liz noticed this by the way his chest was puffed out slightly, and by the way his strides seemed to have more of a bounce to them.

"Don't go boosting your ego," Liz poked his ribcage, knowing fully well it was a worthless comment. "It's already big enough."

"Oh really?"

"Mhm," Liz nodded, ignoring his gaze and slowly speeding up her pace.

Alex caught onto this quickly, and decided to speed up to, which, in turn, caused Liz to speed up even more. By the time Alex began running after her, Liz was giggling loudly, trying to sprint around the house to get away from her pursuer.

Alex's legs were longer than Liz's, however, and he soon caught up with her, grabbing her waist and spinning her about.

Liz's giggles turned to shrieks as her feet left the ground, and she felt herself being spun about, clutching the arms around her waist.

"Alex! _Alex!_ Put me down!"

Alex laughed at her shrieks and failure at trying to wriggle out of his grasp, but eventually let her down, keeping his arms around her.

The two's laughter eventually began to die down, but Liz just turned in his arms and wrapped her own arms around his back, pressing her face to his shoulder and closing her eyes, enjoying the peaceful moment. Alex stroked her hair gently, pressing a kiss to the copper curls.

Keeping her eyes shut, Liz lifted her head so their noses brushed against one another gently. A smile flitted across Alex's lips, before he closed his eyes and bent to close the gap between their lips.

Liz clutched at his cheek as their mouths slanted against one another, Alex's hands tightening around her, one on her back and the other on her hip. Just as Liz stood on her tiptoes and began to part her lips, a loud, obnoxious cry broke them apart.

"Oi! Lovebirds!"

Liz and Alex turned to see Sean standing by the open door, leaning out with his hand holding onto the frame.

"The President's about to make his speechy-thingy."

The couple looked at each other briefly, before separating (leaving their hands together) and running across the grass to the door, following Sean inside.

* * *

><p>"It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile crossing the embargo line that surrounds Cuba as an attack," President Kennedy paused to look directly at the camera lens. "By the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union."<p>

"That's where we're going to find Shaw," Erik pointed out, gesturing to the screen with a gun in his hand.

The mutants, and Moira, living at the house were all situated in the living room, watching the small black and white television. More specifically, watching the address president John F. Kennedy was making about the possibility of a nuclear attack.

"How do you know?" Alex questioned, as the mutants turned to look at Erik.

"Two superpowers facing off and he wants to start World War III; he won't leave this to chance," Charles explained, not looking away from the screen.

"So much for diplomacy," Erik muttered. "I suggest you kids get a good night's sleep."

Liz watched as Erik walked out of the room, not liking the mutant's attitude towards them all. He acted as if her were superior to them, never mind to humans. She shivered slightly, thinking of the dark tone underlying his voice, something Alex noticed.

"You okay?" he whispered in her ear, placing an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, just worried about what's going to happen tomorrow," she replied, wrapping both her arms around his waist, resting her head on his shoulder as she glanced back to the television, catching the end of the speech.

"…end in _war_."

* * *

><p><strong>Once again, I am incredibly sorry for not updating, I hope you can all find somewhere in your hearts to forgive me!<br>But good news - I'm beginning the next chapter as soon as this is published!  
>Thank you all!<strong>


	9. The Battle On The Beach

**This has been sitting in my folder for ages now - written only a few days after the last chapter was posted. I am sorry for the wait, even though it is almost nothing compared to the wait beforehand, but school has given me a lot of homework, and I'm expected to do a minimum of 15 hours of work a week! (Not including homework!) But, anyhoo, enough of my ranting, enjoy this chapter, and thank my annoying younger sister for bugging me to get this published!**

* * *

><p>The next morning, Liz was lying in her bed when a knocking sounded at the door.<p>

"Come in," she called, turning her head to see who was at the door.

A smile flitted across her face when she saw Alex walk into the room, closing the door behind him. Her eyes grazed over his outfit, a plum coloured t-shirt, jeans, pumps and a black leather jacket, all suiting and defining his muscles.

"Hey," she said softly, sitting up and crossing her legs, as he came to sit just in front of her on the bed, his feet still touching the floor. "You okay?"

"As okay as anyone can be, considering…" he trailed off, looking away.

"Yeah," she agreed, rubbing his shoulder.

He straightened up, rubbing his hand over her face, before looking at her, a smile gracing his face instead of a frown.

"How was your night?"

"We're probably going to war today and you're asking me how my night was?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," he chuckled, tangling one of her hands with his.

"Well, I had a nice night," she answered, stroking one of his hands. "My only complaint was I heard some banging, but I think I was just dreaming."

She glanced back at him; her eyes wandered when she spoke, and saw he was frowning at their joined hands.

"Alex?"

He looked up at her, and she saw the honesty and love in his eyes.

"Before we go, I want to give you something," he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a thin golden chain, with a golden cross attached to it. "It's my mother's – the only thing I have to remind me of my parents; I got it before I was locked up." As he spoke, he fiddled with the chain, smiling at some memories. "And I want to give this to you, as she would've wanted me to give it to someone I care about."

Liz smiled brightly, feeling tears burning behind her eyes as Alex spoke.

"My dad gave it to her when they began dating, as her family were big on Christianity, so he used this to win over her parents, in a way," he grinned up at Liz. "And I know you're not religious or anything, but I want you to have it; it just feels right for me to do this."

As soon as Alex finished his sentence, Liz got up on her knees and pulled him into a tight hug, twisting her fingers in his hair and kissing his ear. She sat back on her heels, smiling at the young man who sat before her; her boyfriend.

Alex unclasped the chain and held it to Liz's neck, before clasping it at the back of her neck and letting it fall onto her collarbone. Liz was glad her hair was still pulled back into a messy bun, so the chain didn't get tangled in the knots.

Liz gently brushed her fingertips against the cross, smiling, before getting up on her knees again and hugging Alex once more. His arms twisted around her waist as he pulled back slightly to allow their lips to meet. Liz shuffled slightly so she was raised above him with her arms around his neck and her legs resting either side of his right thigh. As their lips slanted against one another and parted, Alex pulled Liz closer to him, their breaths mingling and their arms twining around one another tightly.

They parted after a few more minutes, their eyes opening slowly as their noses brushed.

"Thank you," Liz smiled at him, pressing a tender, closed lips kiss to his lips, stroking his cheek with one hand.

* * *

><p>Liz, Sean, Raven, Moira, Erik and Charles were stood outside Hank's lab, all staring in confusion at the hand written note pinned to the door.<p>

_Gone to the airbase._

_Bring the crate marked X._

_Hank_

Liz exchanged a nervous glance with Alex, as Charles ripped off the note and pushed both wooden doors open.

The inside of the room was absolute carnage; all of the tables were overturned, broken experimental equipment and electronic equipment scattered the floor and plans were torn to shreds.

"Oh my," Liz muttered, covering her mouth with a hand, her eyes taking in all the mess.

Charles strode into the room, minding the broken pieces of furniture, and made his way to the back, where a large metal crate sat untouched on a table.

"What the hell happened here?" Erik questioned as the rest of the group made their way inside the room, glass crunching underfoot.

Charles reached the crate and lifted the lid, peering inside. He was soon joined by Erik, Moira and the young mutants, all staring at the contents of the crate.

"Hank has been busy," Erik commented dryly.

"Do we really have to wear these?" Alex asked, his eyes disbelieving of the sight before him.

"Well as none of us are mutated to endure extreme G-Force or being riddled by bullets," he glanced back at Liz. "I know you're still scared of it protecting you," before looking back into the crate. "I suggest we suit up."

He reached into the box and pulled out the first of the uniforms, obviously made for girls with the missing harness strap across the top of the breast area, and handed it to Raven, giving Liz a similar, slightly smaller suit (Raven was the taller out of the two), with the instructions for the two to use the next room to change, before meeting outside the front in ten minutes.

* * *

><p>Once inside the room, Liz and Raven pulled on the suit and finally took a good look at each other's suit.<p>

The suit was skin tight with a yellow torso, navy blue long sleeves and trousers, gloves and boots of the same shade of blue, a zipper up the front, ending just below the start of Raven's cleavage (Sean would love it), and a built on harness from her shoulders to the belt on her waist.

The differences between Liz's and Raven's suits were that Liz's sleeved ended just below her elbows, and that the trousers were tighter than Raven's, tucking into her boots rather than hanging above.

Liz also noticed that Raven was in her mutant form, with blue skin, red hair and yellow eyes.

"You look really pretty Raven," Liz commented when Raven adjusted her belt.

Raven glanced up at her, an almost wounded look in her eyes.

"Do you really think so?"

Liz nodded; a smile on her lips as she crossed the space between them and hugged her tightly.

"You're my best friend, Raven, and you look absolutely beautiful – blue really is your colour."

Raven laughed and returned the hug, fighting back the tears that began to well in her eyes.

"And if people don't accept you for who you are, you give them a good hiding," Liz joked as they broke apart, seeing the tears in Raven's eyes.

"Thank you," Raven replied simply.

Liz smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder. "Any time."

* * *

><p>In the airbase, Charles, Sean, Alex, Liz, Erik and Raven, all wearing their uniforms, stood gaping at the large plane that was stood before them.<p>

"Wow," Liz smiled, holding onto Alex's hand.

A huge, coal grey machine, with sloping sides, two engines and a pointed nose sat on three very large sets of wheels.

"Where's Hank?" Raven asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

No one answered for a few moments, as no one knew, but a voice broke the silence.

"I'm here," Hank called.

Liz turned and looked ahead of her, seeing a large figure making his way towards the mutants.

As it drew closer, and began to come into the light, Sean gaped, Charles looked puzzled, Liz did a double take and Erik and Alex glanced briefly at one another in confusion.

"Hank?" Charles asked; his voice full of curiosity.

'Hank' was in fact a large, blue creature, furry, but still retained Hank's facial features, and still wore his glasses.

"It didn't attack the cells," he spoke, drawing to a stop several feet before them. "It enhanced them. It didn't work."

Liz stared at Hank with utter sympathy in her gaze, her forehead creasing as she tried to take in all of the new information.

"Yes it did Hank," Raven seemed to be the only one not surprised with Hank's new appearance. "Don't you see? This is who you were meant to be. This is you." She rested a gloved hand against his cheek. "No more hiding."

Of course, Erik had to ruin the heart-warming mood.

"Never looked better man," he gently hit Hank's arm.

Hank didn't react well; his arm shot out and his hand grabbed Erik's neck in a tight grip, a snarl twisting his features as he growled.

"Hank," Charles warned as Raven, Alex, Liz and Sean jumped back, Alex shoving Liz behind him in a small attempt to keep her safe if anything were to happen to her.

"Don't mock me," he warned Erik, glaring at him, ignoring the fact that Erik's face was turning red as he struggled to take in a breath.

"Hank put him down immediately, please," Charles demanded politely, but with a steely undertone. "Hank. _Hank_!"

Hank let go of Erik, who dropped to the ground, gasping for breath. He glared up at Hank.

"I wasn't," he snarled, his voice husky from his recent choking.

"Even I gotta admit you look pretty badass," Alex commented, crossing his arms. "I think I've got a new name for you – Beast."

When Hank growled at Alex, Liz stepped between them, shifting into her titanium form to protect Alex.

"Liz, Hank, stop it," Charles warned the two teens, his eyes harsh with annoyance showing in them.

"You sure you can fly this thing?" Sean asked Hank, totally oblivious to the stand-off that had just happened.

"Course I can; I designed it," Hank answered, looking away from Liz to Charles.

"Come on, every second we wait, the missiles get closer to the embargo line," Charles spoke. "We need to leave now."

"This way," Hank gestured for the mutants to follow him.

Liz shifted back and followed the group as they jogged around the side of the plane, where there was a set of stairs leading to a door in the side of the metal.

"I was beginning to think you would never get in," Moira's voice rang out as the mutants stood inside the plane.

Liz looked up and saw Moira was sat in the First Officer's seat, looking back at the group, already wearing her headphones.

"Choose a seat and buckle up," Hank instructed, striding to the Captain's seat at the front of the plane.

Charles, Raven and Sean sat on the three seats on the right, leaving Erik, Alex and Liz to sit in the seats on the left. They all buckled their harnesses and pulled the headphones over their ears in record time, allowing Hank to signal to the ground staff to begin to move the plane out of the hanger it was situated in.

Inside the cabin, everyone was silent; all thinking about the events that were going to happen once they reached Cuba.

The engines roared into life as they began to taxi down the runway, quickly picking up speed, before taking off at the end of the concrete stretch.

Liz took a deep breath in as they drew closer to their destination, something Alex noticed, causing him to take her hand in his. Liz gave him a tense smile and squeezed back.

* * *

><p>After a while of speeding through the air, the plane dipped slightly, giving Liz the impression that they'd reached the embargo line. Looking up through the thin windows that were above Charles, Raven and Sean's heads, she could see the American and the Soviet battleships, stationary in the waters. The only ship that was moving was the ship that could possibly start World War III, the first nuclear war.<p>

"Looks pretty messy out there," Hank commented, Liz hearing his dis-embodied voice through the headphones.

Charles lifted up his hand to his head and closed his eyes, following the plan he and Erik had formulated earlier – he was going to try to use his powers to get the crew of the Aral Sea to turn around.

However, he opened his eyes with a slight wince and a frown.

"The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead; Shaw's been there," he explained, looking at Erik.

"He's still here, somewhere," Erik replied.

"He's set the ship on course for the embargo line."

"If that ship crossed the line, our boys are going to blow it up," Moira informed them.

"And that means World War III will begin," Liz added with a sigh.

"Unless they're not _our_ boys," Charles said as an afterthought.

Liz looked at him in confusion, before glancing at Erik, who seemed thoughtful, as if he understood the idea and was processing it in his mind.

Charles inhaled deeply and pressed his finger to his temple once more, a look of intense concentration on his face.

Alex clutched Liz's hand tighter, as the rest of the mutants realised Charles was controlling one of the crew of the Soviet ship to fire at the Aral Sea, meaning the Soviet's had fired at their own ship, thus avoiding World War III.

Suddenly, the plane titled to the left sharply, slamming Alex, Erik and Liz back in their seats, and causing Charles, Sean and Raven to grab onto their harnesses – the only things keeping them in the seats. Raven and Liz shrieked as the plane spiralled into the sky without any warnings.

Alex threw his arm over Liz's body, holding onto his headrest with one hand, and her waist with the other, as she gripped his arm and her harness.

Finally, the plane resumed its normal flight, stopping the twisting and levelling out; to a degree (it was slanted ever so slightly, but nothing like earlier).

"A little warning next time, professor?" Hank asked Charles sarcastically, glancing back to look at him.

"Sorry about that," Charles apologised, keeping one arm across Raven. "You alright?" he asked Raven and Sean.

Raven nodded quickly, whilst Sean looked at him.

"Yeah," he nodded breathlessly.

"That was inspired Charles," Moira commented as she flipped some switches.

"Thank you very much, but I still can't locate Shaw," Charles replied, keeping his hand to his temple.

"He's down there, we need to find him now," Erik demanded.

"Hank?"

"There's nothing unusual on the radar or scanners?"

"No, nothing," Moira grudgingly answering Hank.

"Well then, he must be underwater," Hank added, seeing Charles give up on using his mind to search for him. "And obviously we don't have sonar."

Liz huffed and leaned her head back, her grip never loosening on Alex's arm.

"Yes we do," she looked up at Sean, who had a determined look on his face.

"Yes we do," Charles agreed, taking off his headphones and getting up.

Both Erik and Sean followed suit, unbuckling their harnesses, placing their headphones on the hooks and climbing to their feet, using the roof as a way of keeping balance in the tilted aircraft.

"Hank! Level the bloody plane!" Charles screamed over the roar of the engines.

The plane slowly levelled out, allowing Erik, Charles and Sean to let go of the bars supporting the plane, as Charles and Sean moved to stand on the other side of the bomb doors on the floor of the plane.

"Whoa! You back right off," he yelled at Erik, who held up his hands, standing close to the seats, where Alex, Liz and Raven were all staring at the three mutants. "Beast, open the bomb bay doors!"

With a loud click, the doors opened, letting the roaring wind inside the aircraft.

"Remember, this is a muscle!" Charles yelled, holding onto Sean and gesturing to his vocal chords. "You control it! You'll be in here the entire time!" he placed his fingers by his temple to show Sean they would communicate via thought. "We'll see you soon. On my mark." He let go of Sean and moved back to hold onto the side of the plane, allowing Sean to walk towards the edge of the doors. "Three! Two! One!"

With a whoop, Sean jumped out of the plane.

"Alert the fleet, they may want to take their cans off," Moira radioed in to the US Government.

A minute or so later, Charles spoke.

"Banshee's got a location on Shaw," he confirmed, before standing up opposite Erik. "You ready for this?"

"Ready as ever," Erik agreed.

Liz felt the plane dip as Hank turned them to the right, before slowing down to a hover. She watched as Erik held onto the front wheel as it was lowered, before he vanished from sight completely where she sat. Charles kneeled over the open bomb doors, watching Erik concentrate.

Liz gaped when she saw the submarine being lifted out of the water. A quick glance at Alex and Raven showed that they were thinking the same, peering out of the window.

"Erik, take my hand!" Charles suddenly yelled.

"Aw, hold on guys," Hank warned around the same time. "It's going to get bumpy."

The plane was thrown about once more. Raven and Liz were slightly calmer this time, due to the warning, but the three teens still strapped in were still panicking internally. Liz held the back of Alex's hand as he held onto his headrest, whilst holding onto the bar above her with the other.

The sound of metal ripping reverberated throughout the inside of the plane, and Liz realised the tornado they were trapped in (courtesy of Riptide, she guessed) was ripping the plane apart as they were tossed about.

Suddenly, Liz's harness came undone, and she was thrown forwards from her seat.

"Liz!" Raven and Alex's screams mingled as one as they saw the young mutant slip from her seat.

It was her grip on Alex's hand that kept her from falling fully out of her seat and possibly out of the plane as it was tossed. Alex let go of the headrest and grabbed her right hand in both of his tightly.

"I'm not letting you go!" he yelled, a look of pure determination on his face as he began to pull Liz towards him.

It was harder than it sounded, since the plane was being thrown about, Liz was also bumping about too, meaning she would be falling towards Alex at one second, and at the next, she would be flying away from him.

Acting on instinct, she shifted forms, as it would keep her safer than if she stayed in her human form.

The plane then hit the ground with a great jerk, sending Liz crashing into Alex. He grabbed onto her tightly, as she did to him, winding her arms through the straps on his harness for extra security. The plane rolled about heavily as its momentum sent it further up the beach, snapping the main cabin away from the rest of the body and the engines as the mutants and Moira inside were all screaming and yelling.

As quickly as it began, it stopped.

The silence seemed almost deafening, only broken by the occasional spark of electricity from the wires that had snapped during the crash.

Liz moaned as she lifted her head from Alex's chest. Upon seeing she was upside down, she let go of him and the harness and fell to what was the ceiling, but had now become the floor.

She quickly scrambled to her feet and began unbuckling Alex's harness to allow him to escape the confinements of the straps. He used his hands to lower himself to the floor, before rolling to the side and climbing back to his feet.

Liz immediately caught him in a tight hug, burying her face into his neck.

Alex wrapped his arms around her shaking form, which had reverted back to human, stroking her hair and kissing her head to try to calm her.

Liz glanced over at Raven when they parted, and saw Erik had helped her out of the harness, and Charles had done the same for Moira.

Keeping a hold of Alex's hand, she wandered over to one of the windows and peered out at the wrecked beach.

"I read the teleporter's mind, Shaw's drawing all the power out of the sub; he's turning himself into some kind of nuclear bomb."

"We've got no time, the Geiger counter's going out of control," Moira added, informing the others what the crackling noise was.

"Moira this is what we're going to do, get the radio and tell them to clear both sides immediately."

"I'm going in," Erik called, as Riptide, Angel and Azazel appeared by the sub, on the other side of the beach.

"Beast, Havok, Titanium, back him up," Charles ordered. "Erik, I can guide you through once you're in, but I need you to shut down whatever it is that's blocking me, then we just hope to god it's not too late to stop him. Good luck!"

Liz darted out of the ruined end of the plane, followed by Hank, Alex and Erik.

As Angel, Riptide and Azazel saw they were out of the plane, they got ready for battle.

"Stay safe," Liz murmured to Alex, pressing a quick kiss to his lips.

He nodded, and then shot a blast of energy at Riptide, sending him back into the wall of the upturned sub. Suddenly, Azazel disappeared, only to reappear behind Alex, knives at the ready.

Hank grabbed Azazel's arm, as Liz pulled Alex back away from the blade, but Azazel grabbed Alex by his neck using his tail. The three vanished, leaving Liz screaming Alex's name on the beach.

"Titanium!" Erik called her name, and she turned, following his gaze to see the two other mutants left on the beach.

"Leave them to me, you try to get inside the sub to Shaw; I'll cover you!" she yelled at him, as the two began running across the sand, Liz shifting forms.

Liz threw a shield at Riptide, who was thrown back and landed behind a pile of metal rubble mixed with sand. She knew he wasn't unconscious, but it would give her some more time to deal with Angel.

However, as she looked up, Angel had flown off somewhere. A boot to her back sent her flying forwards, landing face first in the sand. She rolled over to her side just as a flame ball hit the sand she had been lying in just before. She jumped back to her feet and ran at Angel, launching herself at the young woman and tackling her from where she was hovering in the air.

The two rolled across the sand with the momentum, kicking, scratching, slapping and yelling at one another.

Liz gained the upper hand by pulling Angel's hair sharply, before throwing her off her using a shield. Angel flew back in the air, dizzy, before regaining her senses and flying off towards the battleships, which were still sitting on the water.

Liz got to her feet and watched Angel fly off, before glancing around her, checking her back.

She looked back across the water as she heard Sean's sonic scream around the area where the ships were.

Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned and saw Riptide was standing a few feet away, conjuring small tornados in his hands. He threw one at her, sending her flying back and whipping up her hair. She scrambled to her feet, dodging the second tornado sent at her and threw a shield at Riptide once more, sending him flying back and hitting the sub wall, knocking him out.

A louder scream alerted her to Sean flying back towards her. She spun around, just in time to see Sean and Alex crash into the sand and roll in her direction.

Sean landed at her feet, and seemed to be in more pain than Alex, who was already getting to his feet and running towards them, so she fell to her knees and began checking over Sean to make sure he was alright.

A fluttering of wings sounded, just before Liz was struck by a flame ball from Angel, throwing her backwards across the beach with a loud cry, rolling across the sand before hitting a shard of broken metal, groaning in pain.

Alex felt anger bubbling inside him at the sight of Liz being hurt, so, with a yell of anger, he summoned his energy and threw two rings of energy at Angel. One sliced part of her wing and the other sent her off balance, sending her to the sandy ground with a thud, where she lay unconscious.

Alex and Sean scrambled to their feet and ran over to where Liz was lying on the sand.

Liz looked up as Alex wrapped his arm around her waist, kneeling beside her, and supported her torso on his.

"My hero," she smiled, her eyes shining with gratitude as she rested her hand on his chest.

However, the gratitude turned to confusion as she felt only bare skin beneath her hand, so she looked at his chest and realised the plate was missing.

"Alex, it's gone," she looked back up at him. "You did it without the plate!"

Sean watched as Liz launched herself at the blonde, catching his lips in a celebratory kiss.

"Wait? You two?" he questioned, looking between the two as they separated at his question.

They just grinned at his confusion, the three of them sharing a small laugh as they celebrated their individual battles.

"Azazel!"

The three jumped up at the sound of Shaw's voice, and saw Shaw standing near the plane, looking at the red mutant, who stood over Hank. They watched as Hank got to his feet, grabbed Azazel and punched him, sending him to the ground, before looking at Shaw. Shaw's features wobbled, before a blue shimmer overtook him, showing that it was in fact Raven, who had used her power to pretend to be Shaw and trick Azazel.

Alex, Liz and Sean made their way over to the other two, where they all wrapped their arms around one another for support, all of them emotionally and physically drained after fighting.

A loud screech caused Liz to look up at the top of the submarine, just in time to see the metal folding away from a hole.

She covered her mouth with a gasp as Shaw's dead body floated through the hole and into the air, followed by Erik, who was wearing Shaw's metal helmet.

"Today our fighting stops!" Erik yelled as the two sides of mutants all moved closer to see what was going on.

Erik dropped his fist and Shaw fell to the ground with a thud, causing Liz to jump back with a whimper, as Alex wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to him.

Erik slowly floated to the sand, heading towards the mutants.

"Take off your blinders, brothers and sisters; the real enemy is out there," he pointed to the ships on the water, which were all moving together to form a long, tired line, forming a barrier. "I feel their guns moving in the water, their metal targeting _us_. Americans, Soviets, humans, united in their fear of the unknown. The Neanderthal is running scared, my fellow mutants." Erik began to walk to the water's edge, Charles and Moira standing closest to him as the other mutants followed a few metres behind. "Go ahead Charles, tell me I'm wrong."

Liz watched as Charles lifted a hand to his temple and set his gaze on the ships before them. After a moment, he let his hand down, nodding sadly at Moira, who ran back to the plane.

Bangs began to fill the air, and the mutants saw all of the ships firing all missiles on board in the direction of the beach, of _them_.

Liz clutched closer to Alex, her eyes widening at the sight of the missiles making their way towards them.

_They were going to die_.


	10. The Aftermath

**I cannot apologise enough for not updating; the only reason that can justify this delay is the fact that my exams for my AS-Levels are coming up in a few short weeks, and I've had to devote my time to studying for them, completing homework and taking part in extra-curricular activities. I ****hope you enjoy this chapter, and I've already begun working on the next chapter. The end of this story is near!**

* * *

><p><em>They were going to die<em>.

* * *

><p>They drew even closer, gaining speed, as the mutants all stumbled backwards slightly, as if the slight distance would save them.<p>

Liz buried her face into Alex's collar as the missiles were about to hit, preparing for the worst, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and saw the missiles were simply hanging in the air, Erik controlling them, until their power ran out, so they were just floating.

"Erik, you said yourself, we're the better men," Charles tried to reason with Erik as he began turning the missiles around. "This is the time to prove it." However, Erik ignored him, simply motioning for all of the missiles to face the ships. "There are thousands of men on those ships, good, honest innocent men; they're just following orders."

"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders," Erik replied, his voice harsh and unfriendly as he turned his head to Charles. "Never again."

With the thrust of his hand, the missiles began flying back to the ships.

"Erik, release them!" Charles yelled, but Erik ignored him. "No!" Charles cried, running at Erik and launching himself at his old friend, sending the two of them into the sand.

With Erik's concentration broken, the missiles began to fall out of the sky and land in the ocean. Some exploding before they could hit the water.

Charles tried to reach for Erik's helmet, but Erik elbowed him in the face.

"Hey!" Liz yelled, angry at Erik attacking her friend.

She ran forwards, tackling Erik and shoving him away from Charles. She landed on top of Erik, and began to punch him, but her anger blinded her, and she missed his head. Erik grabbed her shoulders and shoved her off him, so she landed on her back on the sand. They both scrambled to their feet, Liz changing to her titanium form as quick as a whippet. She lunged at Erik, throwing a punch to his jaw. Erik's head snapped back, but when Liz moved to punch him again, he caught her hand and began twisting her wrist.

Liz cried out, tugging her wrist out of his grasp and stumbling back a few steps, clutching her arm and rubbing the damaged ligaments.

"Stand back!" Erik yelled, and he threw his hand at Liz, using his power to throw her back across the beach, where she landed on the sand with a cry of pain.

"That's it," Alex muttered, moving forwards with Hank and Sean, all with the intention of stopping Erik. "Lensherr!" He yelled, pure fury dripping from his voice.

"Stand back I said!" Erik repeated, throwing the three of them back, all of them landing heavily onto the sand.

Liz scrambled on her knees to make sure Alex was okay once he hit the ground, pulling his torso to rest on her knees.

Looking up, Liz saw Erik had gained the upper hand, and was on top of Charles; he put his arm on Charles' neck and lifted up his hand, controlling the missiles once more.

"Erik, stop!" Charles tried to use his powers to control Erik, but it didn't work; Erik shoved his arm out of the way and punched Charles across the face.

This lack of concentration caused some of the missiles to explode in the air or fall into the ocean, but Erik stood up and took control of the missiles, sending them to the battleships with increasing speed.

Liz clutched Alex as they watched the missiles draw even closer to the battleships; the two of them knowing that there was no hope for the men on the ships.

A bullet bounced off Erik's head, distracting him from the missiles, and catching the attention of the mutants.

Moira was walking towards Erik, a gun in her hand, firing the bullets at the mutant, a look of steely determination on her face.

Erik turned to her, annoyance in his eyes, and began using his powers to simply flick the bullets away before they could harm him.

However, one bullet, which was flicked to Erik's right, suddenly hit something.

Time seemed to slow down as the mutants saw Charles arch up, clutching his lower back with a cry of agony on his lips.

Raven clutched her mouth, tears of horror forming in her eyes; Liz gasped as she stared at Charles, her brow furrowing as she stared forwards; Moira stared in horror as Charles slowly fell to the sand, his face creased in pain.

Erik ran forwards to his friend, sliding to his knees beside him and began rolling him over, using his powers to remove the bullet from Charles' spine.

The missiles across the sea fell and exploded before they could hit the ships.

Alex helped Liz to her feet, as they began running across the sand to Charles, with Sean, Hank, Raven and Moira.

"I'm so sorry," Erik muttered to Charles. "I said get back!" he yelled at the young mutants, who stopped and stared. "You," Erik looked up at Moira with a glare in his eyes. "You did this." His lifted up his hand, pointing it at Moira, whose dog tags tightened around her neck, slowly choking her.

"Erik," Charles choked out, pain in his voice. "Please…" Erik ignored him and carried on using his power to kill Moira. "Erik, she didn't do this. You did."

At Charles' words, Erik looked down at his friend, tears and pain evident in his eyes as he realised Charles' words were true. He lowered his hand, allowing Moira to breathe once more, collapsing to her knees and gasping.

"Us turning on each other, it's what they want," Erik tried to reason with Charles. "I tried to warn you Charles; I want you by my side. We're brothers, you and I – all of us, together, protecting each other. We want the same thing."

"My friend," Charles let out a small laugh. "I'm sorry, but we do not."

Erik's hopeful expression changed to one of steely anger, as he saw Charles wouldn't change his mind. Glancing up at Moira, he sharply gestured for her to move closer.

"I'm so sorry Charles," Moira gasped, running over to Charles, taking Erik's place and resting the injured man on her lap.

"It's alright," Charles told her, but gasped in pain shortly after.

Erik got to his feet and turned to face the young mutants.

"Their society won't accept us," he gestured to Moira. "We form our own; the humans have played their hand, now we get ready to play ours. Who's with me?"

No one on the beach moved, with the exception of Liz, who tightened her grasp on Alex's hand.

Erik looked at them all, before his gaze rested on Raven; he lifted up his hand and finally spoke. "No more hiding."

When Raven moved, Liz stifled a gasp, feeling tears spring to her eyes as she realised Raven would be leaving them.

Raven began to limp forwards, towards Erik, but she looked at her brother, lying on the ground. She made her way over to him, kneeling beside him and grasping his hand.

"You should go with him," Charles said. "It's what you want."

"You promised me you would never read my mind."

"I know, I promised you a great many things I'm afraid. I'm sorry."

He lifted up her hand and kissed it gently, before Raven kissed his forehead; a sign of goodbye.

"Take care of him," Raven spoke to Moira, who watched her cautiously.

Raven got to her feet and took Erik's outstretched hand.

"Raven, please," Liz choked out, stumbling forwards a few steps, letting go of Alex's hand to do so. "Please, don't leave."

Raven let go of Erik's hand and began to cross the distance between her and Liz, before coming to a stop a few feet before the younger girl.

"You know why I have to, Liz; I won't be accepted into society with the way I look, but you, Sean, Alex, Charles, and even Hank, if he formulates a serum, will. And I can't hide who I am anymore," Raven spoke, her voice wavering slightly.

There was a pause, before the two simultaneously hugged each other tightly, the tears streaming down Liz's cheeks as she hugged her best friend for one last time, not knowing if she would ever see her again.

When they parted, Liz saw tears were brimming in Raven's yellow eyes.

"You _are_ beautiful," Liz told her firmly, holding Raven's shoulder. "And _never_ believe anyone who tells you otherwise." Her voice cracked on the last few words.

Raven simply nodded, before stepping back, away from Liz's grasp, and turned to walk back to Erik.

Angel, Riptide and Azazel had all walked across the sand to join with Erik, and the four of them had been watching the interaction between the two girls.

Raven took Erik's free hand.

"And Beast," she called out. "Never forget; mutant, and proud."

Hank looked away, as if trying to ignore her.

Erik nodded to Azazel, who used his power to transport the mutants off the beach. Once there were gone, Alex, Sean, Hank and Liz, who had wiped her tears and was trying to ignore the pain in her chest, all ran forwards to Charles and Moira. Hank kneeling beside Charles' left arm, Sean standing beside Hank, and Alex and Liz on their knees by Charles' head.

"Help him up, help him up," Moira demanded, her voice shaking. "We need to get you to a hospital."

Hank tried to lift Charles, but Charles cried out in pain as they tilted his torso slightly.

"Wait, wait," Hank's medical knowledge kicked in. "Don't move, Charles, just wait."

"I will, I will…I can't…I can't…I-I-I can't feel my legs," he whispered, but it sounded as loud as if he had shouted. "I can't feel my legs…I _can't_ feel my legs."

Liz turned and buried her face into Alex's chest, the two hugging tightly as more tears fell down Liz's cheeks and Alex looked around, as if he was trying to find a way for them to help Charles on the beach.

* * *

><p>Liz shivered and shuffled closer to Alex, who pressed a kiss to her hair in response, holding her hand in his.<p>

The two were sitting in the waiting room of the nearby hospital, desperately waiting for any news of Charles. They were the only two mutants left in the waiting room; Hank had decided to go back to the house due to his new found appearance and the fact that it would cause alarm if any humans saw him, and Sean had said he'd keep Hank company. Moira had been with them in the waiting room, but a doctor had called her up about an hour ago, telling her that Charles was out of surgery and that she could visit him.

After the battle on the beach ended, several fighter jets had been sent over by the American government to scan the area, after their battleships had reported a flying submarine, a large unusual-looking jet and a multitude of people on the beach. Upon seeing the mutants all crowded on the beach, one of the jets made a landing and, after seeing the condition Charles was in, called for another larger jet to fly Charles to hospital and the teens to safety.

Alex sighed quietly and shuffled his weight from one leg to the other, crossing the right over the left to prevent his left from going numb. Liz glanced up at him to make sure he was alright, before resting her head back on his shoulder, tugging his jacket around her for more warmth; they had made a quick shop at the local superstore, as the blue and yellow uniforms would have been rather suspicious.

Footsteps continuously echoed in the outside hall, creating a low sounding buzz to fill the background noises. However, one particular set of footsteps caused the two mutants to sit up a bit straighter; these footsteps were slightly louder, as if someone were wearing heavy boots, and were a lot quicker in their stride, heading towards the waiting room.

Moira entered the room quickly, heading straight for the two in the corner of the room, huddled up together.

Liz stood up and, pulling Alex with her, met Moira halfway.

"Is he…?" Liz was almost too afraid to ask the question.

"He's stable," Moira replied, her eyes showing signs of weariness.

"But?" Alex asked, hearing that Moira had something else to say.

"The bullet, when it entered his spine, struck his spinal cord, and has caused paralysis from the lower back down."

Liz's eyes clouded with tears as she reached forwards and stroked Moira's arm, knowing the older woman must be feeling the blame for everything that had happened to Charles.

"How has he taken the news?" Alex spoke up after a moment of silence.

Moira hesitated, biting her lip and glancing to the ground for a moment, before choosing her answer carefully. "He's slowly getting used to the idea that he won't be able to use his legs again."

Liz's brow wrinkled as tears burned in the corners of her eyes, something that Alex didn't miss; he pulled her closer to his body and took her hands in his free one.

"My best advice for the two of you is to return back to the manor; you can tell Hank and Sean the news and get some rest," Moira cleared her throat, addressing the two in a motherly tone. "You've all seen and been through too much anyone your age should; the least you can do is try to rest your brain for a few hours to calm down."

Even though leaving Charles was the last thing Liz and Alex wanted to do, they knew that Moira was right, and that they would be of no use just sat, trying to stay awake in the waiting room.

Liz glanced at Alex and nodded slightly, hiding a yawn behind her hand.

"Here," Moira held out a bundle of cash. "This should be enough to pay for a taxi back to the manor."

Alex took the wad and stowed it away in his pocket, before the two teens say goodbye to Moira and left the hospital, their arms around one another.

* * *

><p>The taxi journey back home was long and slow. This at least allowed the two to have a nap in the back, and the driver was nice enough to keep quiet, but they couldn't sleep for long; memories of the events that happened on Cuba jolted them out of their light slumber, and prevented them from catching anymore sleep in the taxi.<p>

The remaining hours were ones Liz couldn't really remember. She remembered Alex helping her out of the taxi; the two stumble with weariness up the drive after paying the taxi driver. She could remember Sean and Hank rushing to the main hall when the two shut the doors behind them, asking what had happened at the hospital and their reactions upon finding out about Charles' current physical state. She could also remember saying she was going to bed, but nearly tripping over the first step, causing Alex to carry her up the stairs to her bedroom and place her on her bed. But she couldn't remember tugging off her new clothes on top of the covers, leaving herself lying in her bra, underwear and vest, and she couldn't remember pleading with Alex to stay the night, but he did.

* * *

><p>Liz wandered down to the kitchen the next morning, her eyes gritty and swollen from crying in her sleep and her head throbbing painfully behind her temples. The kitchen was devoid of life and, along with the rest of the mansion, spookily quiet; any sound made, even the whisper of curtains fluttering in the breeze by open windows, could be heard echoing throughout the mansion.<p>

Tugging the sleeves of her dressing gown away from her hands, Liz reached into the fridge and set about making a full cooked English breakfast. Liz found the ease of the different tasks blissfully mind-numbing and allowed Liz to escape reality for a short while; the meal was something she made sure she knew how to prepare blindfolded when she left home to go to study at University, just over a year ago.

She set about tugging the cutlery and plates from their corresponding homes and within minutes, she was plating everything up; the sausages, baked beans, hash browns, fried eggs, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and of course, the bacon. However, as she placed the five plates down in the spaces on the table, she realised there were only four mutants staying at the mansion now; she had automatically set out a space for Raven to sit at, which was between where she would've sat and the end of the wooden table. Slumping down into a chair, Liz placed her head in her hands and closed her eyes, wishing everything to just vanish.

That was how Sean, Hank and Alex found her a few minutes later; the smell of cooking bacon rousing them from their slumber and forcing them to cooperate with their grumbling stomachs. The three stood in the doorway to the kitchen for a few seconds, exchanging glances, before Alex took the initiative and stepped towards the young woman. As he placed his hand on her shoulder, Liz's head shot up violently.

"You're here," she smiled weakly at the men, gesturing to the table where the now cooling plates of breakfast sat. "I've made everyone breakfast."

"Even Raven?" Sean's brain, as usual, didn't filter his speech before he spoke, causing an uneasy silence to settle over the room.

"Oh, silly me," Liz jerked to her feet, grabbed the spare plate of food and walked across the floor. She threw the food into the bin and slammed the plate into the hot water in the sink, nearly cracking the expensive china on the bottom of the metal sink.

Hank roughly shouldered Sean in scolding, as Alex sent him a short look. Hank crossed the kitchen to where Liz stood; furiously scrubbing the plate as if the plate itself was the one to cause all of the trouble. Gently, he reached a furry hand down and placed it around her wrist, firmly stopping her from scrubbing. Liz's shoulders shook for a moment, before she let go of the plate and the cloth and pulled her hands out of the water, clutching the edges of the sink and leaning on them. No words were needed between the two, but they both knew that Hank's hand rubbing her back gently showed that he was there for her, and he would support her no matter what.

Liz took in a few deep breaths, before visibly relaxing and turning around, walking back to the table and sitting in her chair, Alex sliding into the one at her side, taking her hand in his and brushing her fingers gently.

The mutants were silent for a few more moments, before they decided to eat. The sounds of the cutlery scraping the plates were the only things heard for a while, all of them keeping their thoughts to themselves.

Once the meal was done, and the plates and knives washed, dried and stowed away in their respective homes, the mutants went and sat back at the table, this time, Liz chose to scoot her chair closer to Alex's, so he could put his arm around her waist with ease, allowing her to lean into him.

"So what do we do now?" Sean asked the question that was on everyone's minds. "I mean, Erik's still out there, still at large, and the government hates us –"

"We'll stay here," Hank cut in gruffly. "We'll carry on training and trying to figure out what Erik is going to do first and hopefully try and stop him from obliterating the human race."

"Yeah, I guessed that much," Sean nodded, "But who's going to train us? Charles is going to be permanently in a wheelchair from now on, meaning he won't be able to work with us practically."

"Well, we could train ourselves," Alex added. "It's not that hard; just sort out a routine to build up stamina and carry on with the training Charles gave us before Cuba."

"If it comes to, Charles could spend more of his time planning out how things are going to go, rather than spend it training us when we could do that ourselves," Liz spoke up, lifting her head from Alex's shoulder. "But even if it doesn't work out, I'm still staying here with Charles; he'll need all the support from us he can get."

The three men nodded at Liz's words, and all three voiced their confirmation of staying at the mansion.

"That settles it then," Hank said. "We'll stay here and carry on the way we did before Cuba, as well as trying to sort out some ramps for the stairs or something."

Liz smiled at Hank, before turning and kissing Alex's cheek, thanking him silently for his support in helping Charles.

Now all they had to do was try to figure out a way to train without someone possibly stumbling across them and reporting them to the government; after all, mutants were now classed as dangerous.

* * *

><p><strong>I believe the next chapter will be the penultimate one! And that thought is actually quite scary; finishing my second baby.<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter and I will try to update as soon as possible!**

**Enjoy and review!**

**X**


End file.
